The Central Election Commission has completed accepting documents from participants in the presidential campaign

The last day of accepting documents from potential presidential candidates turned out to be busy: campaign participants who came to the Central Election Commission (CEC) on Wednesday talked about voter signatures, the dogs of Buryatia and the planetary threat to all humanity. Moreover, some of them, as it turned out, came to the Central Election Commission solely to refuse to participate in the election race. And only six out of 11 nominees still have hope of seeing their name on the ballot.

The deadline for submitting signatures by candidates from non-parliamentary parties and self-nominated candidates expired on January 31 at 18:00 Moscow time, and until the last day, four out of 11 applicants delayed this important event.

Two more withdrew the day before, recalled the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova: the leader of the Russian All-People’s Union, Sergei Baburin, announced that he was refusing to participate in the campaign, and the Central Election Commission at a meeting on Wednesday recognized him as having lost his candidate status. Democratic Party candidate Irina Sviridova also notified the CEC that she did not intend to continue the race, but the commission had not received a statement from her as of 11:00.

But there they suddenly received a statement from Andrei Bogdanov (Russian Freedom and Justice Party), who an hour earlier had brought 20 boxes with 105 thousand signatures to the Central Election Commission.

He even talked in detail with journalists, saying that his process of collecting signatures went unnoticed by the general public, since the collectors went door to door: you can’t force people to wait outside in such cold weather. Mr. Bogdanov, as he admitted, did not expect to win; the point was different: participation in the presidential campaign would increase the recognition of him and the RPSU for the 2026 State Duma elections.

However, the politician did not fight for recognition for long: the Central Election Commission changed the agenda of the meeting and recognized him as having lost the status of a candidate of his own free will. Andrei Bogdanov explained this decision by the presence of unclosed accounts in foreign banks: having decided to run for president, he, of course, sent the appropriate applications to credit institutions, but did not receive confirmation, and could not go personally due to the lack of a Schengen visa. “This is not the first year I’ve been coming to the Central Election Commission, I would like to remain on good terms and not burden myself with unnecessary work that will lead nowhere,” he said. And he added that he does not plan to support any of the candidates: “At least no one asked me personally about this.”

The next to arrive at the CEC was Boris Nadezhdin (Civil Initiative) – already with 25 boxes stuffed to the top.

“They write to me: we didn’t believe that we would live to see this day,” he shared with reporters, occasionally looking up from the correspondence on his phone. “We didn’t believe it either, even I was a little nervous tonight.” But in the Central Election Commission building, the candidate seemed to feel like the hero of the day. Mr. Nadezhdin told the journalists who surrounded him that he had collected 208 thousand signatures, from which the best 105 thousand were selected. Moreover, among those who signed there was a woman born in 1924. “I can swear: this is the first time in a presidential election where people actually stood in line to submit signatures,” the candidate boasted. In response to a question about actions in case of refusal of registration, the politician asked not to give him a “deadly diagnosis” ahead of time and assured that in any case he would not call for anything illegal. Boris Nadezhdin also assured that he does not intend to withdraw from the elections, and called on supporters to vote on the last day of the three-day voting and using a paper ballot.

Self-nominated ecologist became the third member of the Central Election Commission Anatoly Batashev with five boxes that looked half empty. It was clear that there were no 300 thousand signatures there, because, for example, Vladimir Putin needed more than 90 boxes to pack them. Actually, the ecologist did not hide this sad truth, although he categorically refused to disclose the number of autographs brought. But he said that he had done a lot of work, traveled to Nalchik and prayed in New Jerusalem, visited the largest landfill in Noginsk, prepared a program for the development of Russia, but in the end made a different decision. “I am not going further into this cycle,” Mr. Batashev solemnly announced and began distributing the “Manifesto” he published, in which he calls on humanity to “unite in the face of the threat of a planetary cataclysm.” True, the self-nominated candidate did not submit an application for withdrawal from the elections, but only handed over his five boxes to the Central Election Commission and will now wait for the refusal to register.

Closing the galaxy of visitors was a self-nominated activist and beauty blogger Russian Rada, who arrived at the Central Election Commission an hour before the deadline and with only three boxes, which also did not look full (at least her fragile assistant was lifting such a box with one left hand). Mrs. Russkikh also could not say how many signatures she had brought, explaining that they “were coming from different parts and not all of them had arrived yet.” And seeing the surprise of the journalists, she admitted that she, of course, is an experienced entrepreneur and philanthropist, but this is not enough to become an experienced politician. In addition, she said that even before the start of the campaign, a lot of money was spent on rescuing dogs in Buryatia, so there were less funds left for the elections than would be desirable. Nevertheless, Ms. Russkikh also did not officially refuse to participate in the campaign, entrusting this decision to the Central Election Commission, which, by law, has ten days to verify signatures and other documents.

Anastasia Kornya