In the preceding 2007 Russian legislative election Nemtsov's party, the Union of Right Forces, had failed to meet the prerequisite 7% of the vote necessary to earn representation in the State Duma.
[3] Nemtsov believed that the only way for the opposition to have a chance at defeating the establishment in the presidential election was for it to ultimately unite around a single candidate.
[5] In addition, the Union of Right Forces also sought to see the opposition coalesce behind a single candidate for the presidential election.
[10] On 26 December 2007, Nemtsov withdrew his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election, saying that he did not want to draw votes away from the other candidate of the "democratic opposition", Mikhail Kasyanov.
[11] Nemtsov also had declared that he would no longer run, in part, due to his belief that the government had predetermined the election's winner.