By Michael Stott
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russians voted for a new president onSunday, in an election expected to deliver a big victory toKremlin leader Vladimir Putin's chosen successor and anotherblow to Moscow's already tarnished democratic image.
Election officials in the Far Eastern peninsula ofChukotka, the first of this massive country's 11 time zones tocast ballots, said voting began on schedule at 0800 local time(2000 GMT Saturday).
"All 59 regional polling stations opened as planned a fewminutes ago," a spokeswoman for the Chukotka regional electioncommission said by telephone from the regional capital ofAnadyr.
Exit polls and first results are due after the last of the96,300 polling stations closes in the European enclave ofKaliningrad bordering Poland at 2000 (1800 GMT) on Sunday.
Opinion polls have predicted right from the outset amassive victory for Putin's protege, the 42-year-old St.Petersburg lawyer and Kremlin official Dmitry Medvedev, makingthe campaign a dull affair devoid of political sparring.
The last polls to be published said Medvedev would win70-80 percent, way ahead of his nearest rival, 63-year-oldCommunist veteran Gennady Zyuganov on 10-16 percent. Turnout isseen around 70 percent, though critics say it is inflated byfactory managers and state officials who pressure employees tovote.
Putin, who must step down in May because of term limits, isby far Russia's most popular politician after presiding over aneight-year economic boom and a dramatic revival in Russianpower and influence overseas.
His endorsement in December of Medvedev, a colleague foralmost 20 years, instantly catapulted the low-profilebureaucrat into the leading position in the polls.
AIRTIME
Putin, however, was quick to add that he would maintain aninfluential role after the election and later said he wouldbecome prime minister under Medvedev -- a highly unusualdivision of power in a country used to one supreme leader.
It remains unclear exactly how the new arrangement willwork once Medvedev is installed in the Kremlin and his formerboss and mentor moves to the prime minister's quarters furtheralong the river to start a role which, on paper, is more lowly.
Buoyed by generous amounts of airtime on state media andlent considerable official support by his status as FirstDeputy Prime Minister, Medvedev has scarcely campaigned at all.He has preferred instead to tour cities in his officialcapacity inspecting building projects and social programmes.
Further adding to the air of unreality surrounding theelection, Medvedev has refused to grant interviews or newsconferences with foreign media, or to participate in debateswith opposition challengers.
Zyuganov, like other opposition politicians, has complainedbitterly of unfair media access and official harassment of hiscampaign, a charge echoed by democracy watchdogs.
Independent anti-Kremlin candidates, such as former primeminister Mikhail Kasyanov or Soviet dissident VladimirBukovsky, were barred by the authorities from running.
TIGHT SECURITIY
Former world chess champion and opposition leader GarryKasparov submitted a petition with his allies to the CentralElection Commission on Saturday describing the election as a"farce".
"It's very important that there are still people around whobelieve that this election is a farce," Nikita Belykh, anopposition leader, told reporters.
There was no immediate reaction from the Central ElectionCommission, which is run by a former colleague of Putin's whohas previously rejected opposition allegations of unfairness.
Most Western observers are boycotting the election becauseof a row with Russian election officials over the number ofobservers allowed and the duration of their stay. However,monitors from friendly former Soviet states will be watching.
Security was tight, with 450,000 police and troops deployedto watch over voting and guard against terror attacks.
With the election result a foregone conclusion, the maininterest has focused on what will happen once Medvedev reachesthe Kremlin.
Analysts have little to go on, since Medvedev has givenonly a couple of major programme speeches during the campaignand limited himself to one paid-for interview in a news weekly,where he talked mainly about his earlier career and personallife.
-- For more on Russia's presidential election, please seeour blog "Operation Successor" athttp://blogs.reuters.com/russia
(Editing by Jon Boyle)
