As Chechnya begins a fifth year of war with no sign of its rebels weakening, Chechens yesterday voted for a president in an election ordered by the Kremlin and promoted as a step toward stability.
Uncertainty surrounds the exact authority for the winner of the balloting. However, the Kremlin hopes that the election will be seen as a sign of civil order returning to the devastated Russian region and will mollify Chechens' suspicions of Moscow.
Election officials were the first to vote as 426 polling stations across the region opened at 8am, NTV television reported. The polls were to stay open until 8pm. Pre-liminary results were expected early this morning, the ITAR-Tass news agency said.
At least 30 percent of the region's more than 561,000 registered voters must cast ballots for the election to be valid. Some 30,000 Russian servicemen permanently stationed in the region have the right to vote, as do refugees in neighboring Ingushetia, who were to be taken by bus to a polling station just over the border.
Chechen Prime Minister Anatoly Popov said the situation had been calm the night before the election and expressed confidence that residents would eagerly participate in the voting.
"They understand that today they are voting for their guarantor of stability, because the republic more than anything now needs stability, which is the basis for economic revival and the further restoration of the republic," Popov told NTV.
Russian forces launched a massive air and ground assault in September 1999 and are resented in Chechnya not only for their campaign's immense physical damage but also for widespread allegations of killings and rape of civilians.
For most of the last four years, the conflict has been a bloody stalemate in which the Russians pound Chechen rebels with heavy weaponry and insurgents stage daily ambushes, with explosives and hit-and-run attacks.
Amid widespread criticism for holding a vote during wartime, Russia sought Saturday to head off claims of unfairness, insisting the balloting would be transparent.
Officials said a range of international organizations had been invited to observe but many had refused to send observers. The Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation Europe cited security concerns in declining to send observers.
"It is absolutely clear that regardless of their decision, the Chechen elections will proceed in a free, democratic atmosphere," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said in a statement.
Fighting persisted on the eve of the vote. An official in the region's Moscow-backed administration said Saturday that six Russian soldiers and police in Chechnya had been killed over the previous 24 hours. On Friday, gunmen shot at a car belonging to a Russian TV news agency, killing the driver, the agency said. A grenade launcher was fired at a school housing a polling station on the outskirts of the capital Grozny, Buvai-Sari Arsakhanov, deputy chief of the Chechen election commission, said Saturday.
Faced with a seemingly unwinnable war and unwilling to negotiate with the rebels, the Kremlin this year began trying to restore outlines of civil society. The presidential balloting follows a March referendum in which Chechens approved a constitution that confirms the republic's status as a part of Russia. The Russian parliament has discussed offering Chechnya substantial autonomy, but no clear terms have been stated.
Trust in the elections has been undermined by the departure of the two candidates that polls showed were the top contenders. Aslambek Aslakhanov dropped out to become an adviser to President Vladimir Putin. Malik Saidullayev's candidacy was invalidated the same day by the Chechen Supreme Court.
Those moves raised wide speculation that the Kremlin was determined to ensure the victory of Akhmad Kadyrov, appointed in 2000 as the Kremlin's top civilian in Chechnya. He faces six little-known candidates and is widely expected to win.
Russia has enacted a tight security regime to make sure the voting takes place without violence. Some 16,000 police were to guard the polling stations, and truck traffic within and between all major Chechen communities has been banned until the voting is over.
Grozny was sealed off to outsiders on Saturday and some roads were closed for security reasons.
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