Pro-peace Russian presidential candidate Yekaterina Duntsova announced Wednesday that she plans to form a new political party after the Supreme Court upheld the electoral commission’s rejection of her candidacy.
Duntsova, 40, a journalist from the Tver region northwest of Moscow, launched her bid for the presidency in November on a pro-peace, pro-democracy platform.
Though she secured the endorsement of an initiative group of more than 500 supporters — as is required for candidates not running with a political party — the Central Election Commission (CEC) on Saturday rejected her registration documents, claiming they contained over 100 typos and errors.
Immediately following the Supreme Court’s ruling Wednesday, Duntsova voiced plans to establish a new political party representing “tens of millions” of Russians who want a “peaceful democratic future.”
“The party that I propose to establish isn’t ‘Yekaterina Duntsova’s party.’ It will be a party of all who stand for peace, freedom and democracy,” Duntsova wrote on Telegram.
Duntsova hopes to establish regional party headquarters in more than half of Russia’s regions by May and to ensure its representatives run in Russia’s regional elections due to take place in September 2024.
The political newcomer also said she is ready to back Boris Nadezhdin, a former State Duma deputy and member of the Civic Initiative party, in the March 2024 presidential election.
The CEC greenlit Nadezhdin’s nomination on Monday. Because Civic Initiative is not currently represented in Russia’s parliament, Nadezhdin’s team must now collect 100,000 unique voter signatures to secure his name on the ballot.
“To ensure that there is at least one candidate with a pro-peace agenda on the ballot, we can help Boris Nadezhdin to pass the 100,000 signatures threshold,” said Duntsova.
President Vladimir Putin, 71, is expected to comfortably secure re-election to a fifth term in the vote scheduled for March 2024 amid the elimination of virtually all opposition in the country.