Boris Nadezhdin wants to run for president in 2024

The first potential presidential candidate in the 2024 elections has emerged in Russia: Boris Nadezhdin, a municipal deputy in the Moscow region of Dolgoprudny and a former State Duma deputy from the Union of Right Forces, announced his intention to run. He negotiates with different parties, but his views are closer to the Civil Initiative. Mr. Nadezhdin denies rumors that his candidacy has been agreed upon by the presidential administration. According to experts, participation in the presidential campaign of a liberal candidate, in principle, makes no sense, since there are practically no relevant voters left in the country; but if it is nevertheless decided to work with the liberal electorate, then there is already a “New People” party for this.

Information about the intention of ex-State Duma deputy from the Union of Right Forces (SPS) Boris Nadezhdin to take part in the presidential elections appeared recently in a number of Telegram channels. The politician himself confirmed this to Kommersant on Wednesday: “Yes, I really made such a decision. But I want to remind you that for the first time I spoke about this at a meeting of the Central Election Commission in July of this year, when my complaint about the refusal to register for the election of governor of the Moscow region was considered.” Mr. Nadezhdin denied the information that his candidacy had been agreed upon with the presidential administration (Telegram channels also wrote about this).

60-year-old Boris Nadezhdin became the first politician to publicly declare his intention to participate in the upcoming presidential elections in March 2024 (the campaign officially starts in mid-December 2023). He told Kommersant that he was interested in being nominated from a party, since this option simplifies the problem of collecting voter signatures, but it should not be “just any party.” “I am currently negotiating with Andrei Nechaev’s Civil Initiative party. He is my like-minded person. But some other parties are also showing interest in my nomination,” said Mr. Nadezhdin.

It was from the “Civil Initiative” that the politician was nominated for governor of the Moscow region last summer, but was able to collect only seven of the 90 signatures of municipal deputies required for registration. According to Boris Nadezhdin himself, an organized collection of signatures was carried out for the four “system” candidates in such a quantity that it was impossible for anyone else to collect the required number. But neither the Central Election Commission nor the courts, where he challenged the refusal to register, were convinced by these arguments.

If Mr. Nadezhdin runs again from the “Civil Initiative”, he will still have to collect signatures, this time from ordinary voters. According to the law on presidential elections, only candidates from parties represented either in the State Duma or in at least a third of regional parliaments can be nominated without collecting signatures. Candidates from other parties are required to collect at least 100 thousand signatures in their support, with no more than 2.5 thousand autographs per subject of the Russian Federation. For a self-nominated candidate, the required minimum is 300 thousand signatures, and each region should have no more than 7.5 thousand of them.

Collecting 100 thousand signatures throughout Russia will be much easier than 90 autographs of municipalities in the Moscow region, says Boris Nadezhdin: “I am sure that I will find many like-minded people who share my views on the development of Russia.” In his program, he intends to focus on two strategic directions of foreign and domestic policy. Firstly, our country should not “bend under China”, which is what the current authorities’ policy is leading to, explains Mr. Nadezhdin. In his opinion, the United States will leave Europe in the foreseeable future, and Russia after that “should become a leading European power.” Secondly, in Russia itself it is necessary to restore full-fledged democratic institutions, such as parliament, an independent court, and fair elections, the politician notes: “Internal political conflicts should be resolved by finding a compromise in discussions, and not by executing those who disagree. Each group in society should have its own representation.”

Earlier, the Vedomosti newspaper reported that, according to one of the scenarios for the future presidential campaign, a representative of liberal forces could take part in it – for example, the former editor-in-chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, Alexey Venediktov, who was included in the register of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice. The journalist himself did not confirm this information. Some Telegram channels, citing their sources in the presidential administration, named the founder of Yabloko, Grigory Yavlinsky, who has already taken part in presidential elections three times, as a liberal candidate. The name of Mr. Nadezhdin was also mentioned during the discussion of this option.

According to political consultant Evgeniy Minchenko, the liberal candidate in the 2024 presidential elections will not have his own voter, since today the liberal electorate has either physically left Russia or gone into internal emigration. “One might assume that this is a bone for an external audience, but the Russian authorities have long given a damn about her opinion,” the expert emphasizes. He doesn’t quite understand the very meaning of nominating a liberal candidate agreed with the Kremlin: “Boris Nadezhdin, with all due respect to him, in recent years has either occupied (in the elections.— “Kommersant”) low places, or was not registered. What could he be a symbol of during this nomination?”

Political scientist Alexei Makarkin believes that now we can only talk about Boris Nadezhdin’s chances of registration: “This decision will be based on whether it is necessary to work with the liberal part of society and who will work with it.” According to the expert, “New People” have already appeared in this clearing, so in terms of working with a liberal audience, two options are possible: either only the candidate from the “New People”, or the candidate from the “New People” plus a representative of the extra-parliamentary opposition. “The first option is almost one hundred percent, the second is still in limbo. And if there is a desire to work with a liberal audience, then such a candidate will have to express the corresponding views, and for this he must be given a platform. And here the question arises: is this possible or not,” sums up Mr. Makarkin.

Elena Rozhkova