Pro-peace Russian presidential candidate barred from appearing on ballot

Yekaterina Duntsova, an independent Russian presidential candidate, is barred from appearing on the ballot in the March 2024 vote after the Central Election Commission (CEC) rejected her nomination documents.

Duntsova, a journalist and a local politician from Tver region of Moscow, announced her bid for the presidency during a pro-peace, pro-democracy rally in November.

This week, the politician secured an endorsement of an initiative group of more than 500 people, which is the least required for candidates, who are not associated with any political party.

On Saturday, at a meeting, her documents were rejected by CEC, citing that it had over 100 typos and other errors, as per Ostorozhno Novosto Telegram news channel, reported.

If the CEC had approved her document, Duntsova would have been required to acquire at least 300,000 unique voter signatures from at least 40 regions of Russia, to be able to appear on ballot.