MOSCOW: More than 15,000 Russians on Sunday endorsed the
candidacy of Alexei Navalny, seen as the only Russian opposition leader
who stands a fighting chance of challenging strongman Vladimir Putin in a
March vote.
Thousands backing the charismatic
41-year-old lawyer met in 20 cities from the Pacific port of Vladivostok
to Saint Petersburg in the northwest to nominate him as a candidate in
the presence of electoral officials to boost his chances of contesting
the March 18 ballot.
His campaign said more than 15,000
people endorsed him nationwide. An independent candidate needs 500 votes
to get registered with election authorities, according to law.
In
Moscow, over 700 people supported Navalny’s candidacy as they gathered
in a huge marquee set up in a picturesque park on the snow-covered banks
of the Moscow River.
“I am hugely happy, I am proud to
tell you that I stand here as a candidate of the entire Russia,” the
Western-educated Navalny told supporters at the Moscow event which at
times felt like a US campaign conference.
“We are ready to win and we will win these elections,” Navalny said before finishing his speech in a cloud of confetti.
Two
electoral officials attended the Moscow event and Navalny’s campaign
planned to submit his nomination to the Central Election Commission,
where officials will rule whether he can run.
Authorities
have deemed Navalny ineligible to run due to a criminal conviction,
saying “only a miracle” would help him get registered. Navalny has
described the conviction as politically motivated.
Navalny
said that if he is not allowed to put his name on the ballot he will
contest the ban in courts and repeated his threat to call for a boycott
of the polls if he did not get registered.
“Thwart the elections if they are dishonest,” he told supporters.
Putin,
65, announced this month that he will seek a fourth presidential term,
which would extend his rule until 2024 and make him the longest-serving
Russian leader since dictator Joseph Stalin.
Opposed by token opposition candidates, he is widely expected to sail to victory.
But
with the result of the March vote a foregone conclusion, turnout could
be low, harming Putin’s hopes for a clear new mandate, observers say.
Navalny,
who has tapped into the anger of a younger generation who yearn for
change, hopes that popular support for his Kremlin bid would pressure
authorities into putting his name on the ballot.
“If
Navalny is not allowed to run I am not going to vote,” pensioner Marina
Kurbatskaya said. “I don’t see anyone else who I want to become
president.” Navalny has built a robust protest movement in the face of
persistent harassment and jumped through multiple hoops as he campaigned
across the country in an effort to shift attitudes amid widespread
political ennui.
He says he is the only Russian
politician who has run a genuine Western-style political campaign,
stumping for votes in far-flung regions.
Many critics
scoff at Navalny’s Kremlin bid but the anti-corruption blogger says he
would beat Putin in a free election if he had access to state-controlled
television, the main source of news for a majority of Russians.
