INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
after his campaign submitted the required number of signatures endorsing his re-election bid.Election authorities said Putin's campaign
managed to collect some 315,000 signatures from citizens across the country while invalidating only 0.15% of the endorsements due to various
Putin's candidacy.Putin is the fourth presidential candidate to receive official approval from CEC to run in the upcoming election, a race
and the New People party, which all have representation in parliament and therefore they do not need to gather signatures of
endorsement.Meanwhile, questions remain as to whether CEC will approve the candidacy of pro-peace presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin, who
last week announced he had gathered the requiste 100,000 signatures for candidates running from parties that do not hold seats in parliament
Nadezhdin, who hopes to run as an independent candidate from the Civic Initiative party, has seen a surge of support in recent weeks, as
long lines of Russians both at home and abroad have formed at his campaign's offices to endorse his election bid.The deadline for submitting
self-nomination as a candidate and the collection of signatures needed for him to appear on the ballot.
