Opposition groups cry foul ahead of Russian election
Campaigning ended for Russia's parliamentary election today with President Vladimir Putin's party on course for a landslide victory and opposition groups voicing fears of widespread ballot-rigging.
Mr Putin is leading the United Russia party into Sunday's vote and will use the big majority it is expected to win to cement his grip on power even after he steps down from the presidency at the end of his second term next year.
Most Russian voters credit Mr Putin with restoring stability and economic growth after the chaos of the 1990s. Opinion polls indicate his party will pick up about 60% of the vote on Sunday, with its nearest rivals trailing far behind.
One of Mr Putin's most vocal critics, former chess champion Garry Kasparov, said the vote would be meaningless because the Kremlin would rig the result.
Mr Putin has said he expected the election to be fair and transparent.
Mr Kasparov, who served five days in prison this week for organising an illegal demonstration, urged voters to spoil their ballot papers on Sunday in protest.
"We must show people that these elections are absolutely illegal and illegitimate," Kasparov told a news briefing. He is not running in the election and his opposition coalition does not have widespread support.
Opinion polls show the Communists are the only party other than United Russia assured of exceeding the 7% threshold to qualify for seats in parliament.
But Russian pollsters have said they believe last-minute shifts in voter intentions should give two other parties, the pro-Kremlin Fair Russia and the nationalist LDPR, just enough votes to sneak into parliament.
Kremlin opponents and non-governmental groups say they have registered large numbers of violations of election rules.
They have reported dozens of cases of people being told by their employers to turn up for work on Sunday where managers will check if they voted, and of people being registered to vote in more than one polling station.
Western governments are concerned that Europe's main ODIHR vote monitoring watchdog, widely regarded as the yardstick for elections in ex-Soviet states, will not be at the vote. The body pulled out, citing obstruction from Moscow.
A senior member of the United Russia party said it was not up to foreign observers to determine if the election was fair.
"It is not foreign election observers who guarantee democracy in Russia, but first and foremost it is the will and political culture of the people," said Lyubov Sliska.
Western diplomats said the absence of ODIHR monitors would make it hard for them to assess the election.
"We normally wait for the ODIHR report and then align ourselves with it, but without it, we're in a difficult position," said one diplomat.
United Russia leader Boris Gryzlov urged people to turn out to vote. "In effect this will be a referendum, a referendum in support of Vladimir Putin," he said.
