Russian opposition figure presents candidacy

(31 Jan 2024)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4475722

++PLEASE NOTE: AP IS OPERATING IN RUSSIA ACCORDING TO RUSSIAN RESTRICTIONS ON ALL REPORTING RELATED TO THE ONGOING MILITARY OPERATION IN UKRAINE++

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Moscow, Russia - 31 January 2024
1. Close up of Nadezhdin
HEADLINE: Russian opposition figure presents candidacy
2. Wide of boxes with signed petitions for presidential candidate Boris Nadezhdin being brought to the Central Election Commission (CEC)
ANNOTATION: Boris Nadezhdin has presented thousands of signatures to the country's Central Election Commission (CEC) in a bid to run for the nation's presidency.

3. Wide of man stacking boxes
4. Close up of boxes moving out of security scanner
ANNOTATION: Nadezhdin, who works as a legislator in a town near Moscow, has called for a halt to the fighting in Ukraine and starting a dialogue with the West.

5. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Boris Nadezhdin, presidential candidate:
“I want to say a huge thank you to those who believed in us, a huge thank you to those tens, even hundreds of thousands of people who stood in lines throughout our big country, in 75 regions of the country. Signatures were collected in more than 120 or 130 cities, and these signatures are here. I want to say a huge thank you to the tens of thousands of people who donated to our official election account. Never in the history of Russia has it happened that a presidential candidate's campaign was entirely funded by donations from ordinary people.”
6. Various of boxes with petitions, labels reading (Russian) “Nadezhdin 2024” ++CUTAWAYS++

7. Various Nadezhdin in front of media
8. Wide of Nadezhdin leaving
ANNOTATION: The CEC is expected to review Nadezhdin's papers to decide whether to register him for the race.
STORYLINE:
Boris Nadezhdin, an opposition figure who was supported by thousands of Russians, presented nationwide-collected signatures to the Central Election Commission Wednesday to advance to the next stage of the electoral process. 

The CEC is expected to review Nadezhdin's papers to decide whether to register him for the race.

Nadezhdin, a 60-year-old liberal politician who serves as a local legislator in a town near Moscow, has openly called for a halt to the fighting in Ukraine and starting a dialogue with the West. 

Thousands of Russians have lined up across the country to leave their signatures in support of Nadezhdin's candidacy to allow him to qualify for the race, an unusual show of opposition sympathies in the rigidly controlled political landscape that raised a challenge for the Kremlin.

Nadezhdin thanked his supporters and expressed hope that the Central Election Commission registers him as a candidate

“I hope that in this case the Central Election Commission will be guided not by pedantry, but by the essence of the procedure. No one has any doubt that candidate Nadezhdin is supported by hundreds of thousands of people,” he told journalists after presenting signatures.

Nadezhdin said that he would never call for unauthorized rallies, “no matter what happens” but added that according to the Constitution all Russian citizens have the right to assemble peacefully and express their opinions in the manner prescribed by law.

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