Decision On Nadezhdin's Signatures Delayed Until Thurs, Positive Outcome Seen Unlikely

Anti-war presidential candidate Boris Nadezhdin's team is racing against the clock to prove that enough of the signatures for his registration for the upcoming election were valid This comes after the Central Election Commission's (CEC) said that over 15% of the signatures as invalid, which would result in Nadezhdin's disqualification, but agreed to postpone formal decision until Thursday in what it described as a goodwill gesture.

• Nadezhdin's team said that they managed to prove the veracity of "several dozen" signatures, but this falls way short of the circa 4,500 out of the 9,209 declared invalid that need to be confirmed in order to register Nadezhdin's candidacy.
• Nadezhdin had earlier said that it was "absolutely impossible" to verify all signatures deemed flawed by the CEC and requested a longer delay to the formal decision until February 10, which was not granted.
• Election watchdog Golos notes that the authorities could ramp up pressure on state workers to register for online voting amid concerns that the potential elimination of Nadezhdin would make the election "boring," weighing on the turnout.
• Separately, Golos dismissed the possibility that Nadezhdin could prove the validity of so many signatures, given that around 4,000 were rejected based on the opinions of handwriting experts, which are impossible to challenge in such a short time span.