Russia held a by-election in Chechnya for a seat in Moscow's parliament yesterday in a vote pro-independence rebels branded a sham, and there were reports of skirmishes at heavily guarded polling stations.
The head of the local election commission said about 40 per cent of about 500,000 registered voters had cast ballots by 5 p.m. local time, satisfying the legal threshold to declare the poll legitimate.
"We can already say with complete certainty that the election in the 31st district of the Chechen republic is valid," Mr AbdulKirim Arsakhanov said by telephone from Gudermes, head quarters of Chechnya's Moscow-installed authorities.
However, a Chechen rebel spokesman, Mr Movladi Udugov, speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location, said that only Russian soldiers based in Chechnya and a tiny minority of pro-Russian Chechens had voted.
"The farce of the so-called election has completely failed. The Chechen population has unanimously boycotted it," he said.
Mr Arsakhanov said election officials expected preliminary results today. "There is no panic", he added. "Nothing excessive happened."
Russian news agencies had reported shootings and some attempted bombings on the eve of and during the election, but Mr Arsakhanov said: "Shooting is normal here."
The voting was held to fill the breakaway province's seat in the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament.
The seat was left empty in the national election last December, when Russian troops were battling to take control of the capital, Grozny, at the height of Moscow's second campaign to control the province. The campaign is now in its 11th month.
The vote is opposed by separatist rebels who have been battling for independence from Russia.
The entire list of 13 candidates vying for the State Duma seat favour closer ties with Moscow, the chairman of the Central Elections Commission, Mr Alexander Veshnyakov, has said, raising questions about the importance of the poll.
Mr Veshnyakov had predicted a 60 per cent turnout for the poll, which he expected to strip legitimacy from rebels elected previously to leadership posts within Chechnya.
The highest participation rate appeared to be among the approximately 20,000 soldiers and other federal forces permanently stationed in the area. Troops posted there temporarily do not vote there, but those listed as living there permanently do.
Ninety percent of troops eligible to vote cast ballots, mostly a day early in order to stand watch over roads and polling stations, agencies reported.