Russia’s election officials have barred opposition figure Yekaterina Duntsova from standing in next year’s presidential election against Vladimir Putin.
Duntsova, a former journalist, planned to run in the 2024 presidential race on a pro-peace and pro-democracy platform
However, the Russian Central Electoral Committee has declared Duntsova cannot enter the ballot because of “errors in documents”.
The 40-year-old activist had applied to run as an independent and has since admitted that time has run out for her to mount another bid to register as a candidate.
However, in a statement on social media, Duntsova said she would be appealing the decision with the Russian Supreme Court.
Duntsova has also called on the Liberal Party Yabloko to invite her to run as a candidate for the party.
She said Yobloko “should not stand on the sidelines. Russians should have a choice”.
Duntsova also told reporters: “We are now waiting for some official, public answer on whether (Yabloko) are prepared to support me so we meet the deadline.”
Grigory Yavlinsky the co-founder of Yabloko has publicly said that the party is not planning on putting forward candidates.
Duntsova said that she is under no illusions about the fairness of the upcoming “elections”. Despite this, she argues that “you can’t do nothing”.
Duntsova described running as the “last legal opportunity for citizens to express their disagreement with the policies of the current authorities”.
According to Russia’s electoral commission, a total of 29 people have filed to run for the Russian presidency.
Duntsova said she was sure her supporters had no illusions about the outcome of the presidential “elections” in inverted commas.
But “you can’t do nothing”, she wrote on Telegram, since standing as a candidate is the “last legal opportunity for citizens to express their disagreement with the policies of the current authorities”.
Pamfilova said Saturday that 29 people have filed to run for the presidency.
