Ekaterina Duntsova She is a normal woman, a “nobody”, an ordinary neighbor. Journalist for a local Moscow television station and mother of three children, At 40 years old, his great passion was to collaborate with an association to search for missing people. On the public field, she was elected in the past as a member of the municipal council of Rjev, a small city of 60,000 inhabitants north of the Russian capital.
Duntsova is very ordinary, one among thousands, but at the same time she is such a rare and extraordinary Russian that recently announced that he will present his candidacy in the presidential elections next March, who will challenge the all-powerful man in the Kremlin, one of the most influential men on the planet, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The journalist and mother has no family history or friendship with the circles of power, she is not a descendant of any rich family or close to power. and although the vast majority of Russians do not know her, they could find her name on a ballot next to President Putin’s when they go to vote in March.
‘The Moscow Times’, an English-language newspaper critical of the Kremlin, interviewed her last week. In the interview she says that her lack of political experience is not a disadvantage: “I am different in that sense because I am involved in local political discourse. It is important for me to live like the majority of the country’s inhabitants. All your problems, all your worries, are close to me,” she explained.
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I am different in that sense because I am involved in the local political discourse
The newspaper assures that she is “an independent candidate with a program in favor of peace.” with its neighbor Ukraine and is a critic of the political situation in Russia.
On his website he writes that “For at least 10 years the country has been going in the wrong direction, the focus is not on development but on self-destruction.” He also writes that “every day the life of ordinary Russians becomes more difficult. “Citizens cannot freely express their opinions if they do not coincide with the position of the authorities.”
On paper, Duntsova would seem like a woman who, without further political structure and unknown to the vast majority of Russians, could hardly be a candidate and disturb those in power, but The Prosecutor’s Office has already summoned her to give explanations about some statements, especially those related to the war against Ukraine.
When he announced that he would present his candidacy to dethrone Putin from the Kremlin, The woman wrote that she wants “Russia to be a democratic, prosperous and peaceful state.” About war he says that “sooner or later, every armed conflict comes to an end and I hope it ends as soon as possible. “People are very tired of what is happening, but that tiredness is not expressed.”
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After visiting the Prosecutor’s Office, where she was interrogated, she assured that she had been asked about her opinions on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, on the political situation in the country and on Putin’s government.
He says he is afraid (in Russia in the last decade and a half people have been murdered, with suspicions placed on power, journalists, politicians and pro-democracy activists, while others are facing long prison sentences) and that “every sensible person who takes this step would be afraid, but fear should not overcome us.”
On the big question of whether Russians can find their ballot when they go to vote in March in an election in which they know that President Vladimir Putin, who has not yet officially presented his candidacy, will still win, Duntsova has a path of obstacles.
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First of all, must have the support of what are known as “political interest groups”, a small assembly of 500 people to support his candidacy. You should be able to get that number locally.
The second obstacle is more difficult to flank. The regulations require it to have 300,000 signatures from voters who come from at least 40 regions of Russia. That list must be submitted to the Central Election Commission. That is, whoever signs will be forever marked as someone who wanted to dethrone Vladimir Putin, a bad letter of introduction in the Russia of the year 2023.
IDAFE MARTIN PÉREZ
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