The working group of the Central Election Commission identified 9,000 invalid signatures for Boris Nadezhdin. The majority of them were deemed so because the information in the signature sheets was filled out not by the voters themselves, and the sheet forms were not certified by a notary. This information was shared on February 5 by Nadezhdin’s press office and '7x7's source in the politician’s headquarters.
According to Boris Nadezhdin’s press office, the working group of the Central Election Commission deemed 15,348% of the signatures supporting the politician’s presidential bid invalid, totaling 9,209. As per regulatory documents, candidates with more than 5,000 invalid signatures are not included on the ballots. The working group has recommended rejecting Boris Nadezhdin’s bid. He has until February 7 to demonstrate that half of the currently unaccepted signatures are valid.
"We disagree with the working group’s decision. The whole world saw us collecting signatures in an honest way. Boris Nadezhdin's staff is ready to find evidence of the groundlessness of the group’s verdict," commented the press office.
As reported by a source in Boris Nadezhdin's headquarters to '7x7,' more than 2,500 signatures were considered invalid, because the dates when the signatures were entered were not marked by the voters themselves. Another common violation concerned signatures left on separate sheets with passport data not verified by a notary. This led to 1,700 signatures being denied. Another 1,500 were rejected because signatories’ names and surnames were not written by them personally.
Other reasons for deeming signatures invalid included unreliable or incomplete voters’ and signature collectors’ data, and corrections.
On February 2, the Central Election Commission accused Boris Nadezhdin and Sergei Malinkovich, the leader of the 'Communists of Russia' party, of submitting signatures on behalf of deceased individuals. The politician’s press office clarified that 858 signatures, out of a total of 60,000, were rejected as containing unreliable information on voters. The data in these sheets did not align with the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ databases. Nadezhdin’s staff suggested that the issue might be on the Ministry’s side.
"This conclusion doesn't necessarily imply that all 858 are deceased or nonexistent individuals, as this violation identification code is applicable in various cases. However, there can’t be over 858 'dead souls' among the verified signatures," explained the staff.
Boris Nadezhdin stands as the sole presidential candidate with an anti-war stance. In the event of his victory, he promises to end the war in Ukraine and release political prisoners.
