Election officials in Russia announced Friday that they had found errors in the paperwork submitted by prominent opposition politician and anti-war proponent, Boris Nadezhdin, after he provided the signatures of over 100,000 supporters, in an effort to secure his candidacy for the March elections.

The announcement by the Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) comes just two days after Nadezhdin submitted the signatures, so he could register as a candidate. The presidential hopeful has emerged as a pro-peace voice in Russia over the previous weeks and recently stated:

My nomination was supported by hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens around the world. And they signed not so much for me, but for themselves and for the future of their children – people saw an opportunity to legally speak out for peace and support democratic values.

The Deputy Chairman of the CEC Nikolai Bulaev said in his statement that they had found errors in both Nadezhdin and the nominee for the Communists of Russia party Sergei Malinkovich’s applications for candidacy. One of the allegations is that the signatures are from deceased individuals. He said that they had seen “dozens, and more than a dozen people who are in this world no longer,” which raised questions “about the integrity of the ethical standards that are used, including by the signature collectors.” He went on to say that “to some extent, the candidate is directly involved in this.” Bulaev has invited Nadezhdin to a meeting of the working group so that he could show him the discrepancies.

While Nadezhdin has not directly addressed the allegations, he stated, “You and I are more alive than all the living. If someone sees dead souls in my subscription lists, well, friends, these questions are not really directed at me. It’s more like going to church, to an exorcist.”