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Backed by his supporters across Russia, Alexei Navalny sought to get his name on the ballot for a March presidential election on Sunday. He is seen as the only Russian opposition leader who could realistically challenge Vladimir Putin.
Thousands of the 41-year-old lawyer's supporters met in 20 cities to formally nominate his candidacy in the presence of electoral officials to boost his chances of making the vote.
Russian electoral officials have deemed him ineligible to run due to a criminal conviction, saying "only a miracle" would help him get registered.
Putin, 65, announced this month that he will seek a fourth presidential term, which would extend his rule until 2024 if successful.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny delivers a speech during a meeting with his supporters in Moscow on December 24, 2017. /VCG Photo
But Navalny, who has tapped into the anger of a younger generation yearning for change, said he would not give up.
He hopes that popular support for his Kremlin bid would pressure authorities into putting his name on the ballot.
"Not letting us contest the election is impossible," Navalny wrote in a blog post this week.
He says he is the only Russian politician who has run a genuine Western-style political campaign, stumping for votes in far-flung regions.
In Moscow, finding a premise for the Sunday event had been so hard that Navalny's campaign pitched a huge tent in a park on the snow-covered shores of the Moscow River.
Yury Berchenko, one of some 300 supporters who gathered in the tent, called Navalny an "honest and sincere" man, saying he should be allowed to contest the vote.
"He mobilizes people," Berchenko told AFP.
"Such a man should be president or at least take part in a debate and ask difficult questions."
Earlier on Sunday, supporters in the Pacific port of Vladivostok, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk in Siberia and other cities formally endorsed Navalny's candidacy.
According to legislation, he will need at least 500 people to formally nominate his candidacy in each city.
Supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny vote during a meeting to uphold his bid for presidential candidate, in St. Petersburg, Russia, December 24, 2017. /VCG Photo
In Moscow alone, more than 700 people supported his candidacy at the event.
Two members of the Central Election Commission attended the Moscow event, Navalny's campaign said.
Despite a litany of problems such as corruption, poor healthcare and increasing poverty, opinion polls suggest Putin enjoys approval ratings of 80 percent and is expected to sail to victory against token opponents.
(CGTN)
