Yekaterina Duntsova barred from running in Russian presidential election

The Russian Central Election Commission has refused to register Yekaterina Duntsova as a candidate in the country’s upcoming presidential election in March. The commission announced Saturday that it had found several “mistakes” in Duntsova’s application.

Head of the Central Election Commission Ella Pamfilova was present at the session. “You’re a young woman, you’ve got so much ahead of you. This is still an experience,” Pamfilova told Duntsova after the decision. Duntsova’s team plans to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court.

Duntsova appealed to the liberal Yabloko party, led by Grigory Yavlinsky, to nominate her as their candidate so that she can re-submit her application.

Yekaterina Duntsova, a previously unknown local TV journalist and municipal deputy from the town of Rzhev, northwest of Moscow, declared her intention to run for president in November. 

Duntsova, whose candidacy is noteworthy due to her openly anti-war stance, officially submitted her application to the Central Election Commission on 20 December.