Former TV journalist Yekaterina Duntsova was barred from running against President Vladimir Putin in March's presidential elections because of “errors” in her application to register as a candidate, her Telegram campaign channel said.
The move came just three days after Duntsova, 40, asked the electoral commission to register as a candidate. She planned to run under the banner of ending the war in Ukraine and freeing political prisoners.
Video of a central election commission meeting showed members voting unanimously to reject the candidacy. The head of the commission, Ella Pamfilova, offered words of comfort to Duntsova.
“You are a young woman, you have everything ahead of you. Any negative signal can always be transformed into a positive signal. Any experience is still an experience”, highlighted Pamfilova.
Screenshots posted by Duntsova's campaign channel showed documents that the commission highlighted as lacking proper signatures.
The fact will be seized upon by Putin's critics as proof that no one with genuine opposition views will be allowed to oppose him in the first presidential elections since he launched the war in Ukraine. Opponents understand this as a false process, with only one possible outcome.
The Kremlin claims that Putin will win, because he has genuine support from the whole of society, with rates reaching the 80% mark.
When Duntsova said last month she wanted to run, commentators described her as crazy, brave or part of a plan devised by the Kremlin to create the appearance of competition.
“Any sane person who would take that step would be scared – but fear should not win,” she told Reuters in an interview in November.
Source: CNN Brasil
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