'Anti-War' Candidate Could Be Blocked From Appearing On Ballot-RTRS

Reuters is reporting that according to state outlet Tass, the Russian Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has found irregularities in the signatures collected by presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin, seen as the 'anti-war' candidate, as he seeks to make it onto the ballot for the March 15-17 presidential election. Reuters: "The electoral commission met on Friday and its deputy chairman, Nikolai Bulayev, said some voter lists submitted by candidates contained the names of dead people.State news agency TASS said the results of the commission's checks on the signatures submitted by Nadezhdin and another candidate, Sergei Malinkovich, would be presented on Monday."

• Tass reportsthat the final decisions on who will be able to run in the election will be made by 7 Feb. "[CEC head] Ella Pamfilova, emphasized that the CEC will act in relation to candidates “solely on the basis of the current legislation, whether someone likes it or not”."
• Interfax: "On January 24, the press secretary of the Russian head of state, Dmitry Peskov , said that the Kremlin does not consider politician Boris Nadezhdin “as a rival” in the upcoming elections."
• There remains little expectation that the election will deliver a result other than incumbent President Vladimir Putin's re-election given the tight grip he and his administration has placed on Russia's political system during his 24 years as president and prime minister.