Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Russian election officials Thursday disqualified anti-Ukraine war candidate Boris Nadezhdin from running in next month's presidential election, alleging irregularities with 9,000 signatures on a petition endorsing his candidacy.
The ban came as authorities finalized the list of candidates following an unsuccessful appeal by Nadezhdin for more time to challenge a ruling Monday that the proportion of the 105,000 signatures gathered that were invalid exceeded the permitted 5%.
The Central Electoral Commission rejected Nadezhdin's request to push back the finalization of candidates by 48 hours.
"The deadlines have been met with a margin," said CEC head Ella Pamfilova.
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Commission official Andrei Shutov said that with just under 96,000 names left on his petition, Nadezhdin had failed to reach the 100,000 verified signatures required to register as a candidate.
CEC rules, however, limit petitions to 105,000 names, making for a very small permissible error margin.
Nadezhdin insisted he had collected more than double that number "openly and honestly" and pledged to try to get the decision overturned in the country's Supreme Court ahead of the March 15 poll.
"You are refusing me, but tens of millions of people who are hoping for change were going to vote for me. I'm in second place after Putin, I'm gaining double digits in the polls," he wrote in a social media post.
The CEC barred Independent Yekaterina Duntsova in December, citing 100 errors with her petition.
Unexpected lines outside Nadezhdin's campaign offices across Russia have become a highly visible display of public dissatisfaction with the war and the way the country is being governed.
Putin, 71, is seeking his third consecutive six-year term after a 2021 constitutional amendment allowing two additional terms, potentially extending his rule well into his 80s.
