GROZNY - In their war-shattered capital and impoverished villages, Chechens voted for a president yesterday in an election condemned by critics as a sham but promoted by the Kremlin as a step toward ending a decade of violence and chaos.
Authorities said no official results would be available until today, but Russian news agencies quickly reported that Kremlin-appointed Chechnya administration chief Akhmad Kadyrov appeared headed for victory, as was widely expected.
Chechen Prime Minister Anatoly Popov said preliminary results indicate Kadyrov won some 80 percent of the votes cast in 12 of 20 regions in Chechnya, it was reported. A candidate needs more than 50 percent to win the election outright and avoid a runoff.
In all probability there will be no second round
Popov said. The preliminary results of the election are already emerging now and it is understood that victor's result will be high.
In the capital, where ruined hulks of buildings rise like broken teeth, and in impoverished villages, many Chechens turned out in suits and fine dresses to vote. But others disdained the proceedings as a farce.
In my view all of Russia is far from democracy and not just Chechnya
said Liza Vishayeva, as she passed a polling station that was the only building on her Grozny block without holes chewed into it by artillery. She said she had not voted and doubted the election would bring significant improvement.
To change this to a peaceful situation would be very tough
she said.
Russian forces are widely alleged to have killed and raped civilians during Chechnya's current war, which began in September 1999 with a massive air and ground assault but has devolved into a bloody stalemate. The Russians pound Chechen rebels with heavy weaponry and insurgents stage daily ambushes with explosives and hit-and-run attacks.
This war followed the 1994-96 conflict that ended with Russian forces withdrawing after rebels fought them to a standstill.
Chechen rebels have also mounted attacks outside the region, including a hostage-taking raid on a Moscow theater last October and suicide bombings at a Moscow rock concert this summer.
Even Kadyrov - widely expected to win after his leading challengers withdrew or were cast out of the race - said the region's suffering would be hard to turn around.
I would like to say that tomorrow the sun will rise from the place where it sets
Kadyrov told a news conference in the tree-lined courtyard of his house in the village of Tsentoroi. But what will be different tomorrow is that I will be legally elected.
Russian officials and lawmakers have discussed substantial autonomy for Chechnya, but no terms have been reached. Still, the Kremlin hopes the election - held as the war enters its fifth year - will be seen as a sign of civil order returning to the region.
Some voters embraced that hope. It's the road to life
the road to justice
said Ami Saidov, 65, who voted in a crowded, sweat-reeking schoolhouse in the hamlet of Bachi-Yurt.
More than 81 percent of Chechnya's 561,000 eligible voters cast ballots, officials said. Some 30,000 Russian servicemen permanently stationed in Chechnya had the right to vote.
No Western observers were present for the low-tech voting. At some polling places, paper ballots were dropped into taped-up cardboard cartons.
Human rights advocates questioned the fairness of a vote held during a war and condemned the election as a political farce heavily tilted in favor of Kadyrov. Major Western governments including the United States have been cautious about criticism, expressing hope that the vote can help foster a political solution of the conflict.
The election was widely denounced by critics after two candidates who rated higher than Kadyrov in early opinion polls disappeared from the ballot - one resigning to become an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the other barred from the campaign by the Chechen Supreme Court.
In the Kremlin they have decided who will be the president
and we cannot change anything
said Adam Akhmadov, a Chechen war refugee in neighboring Ingushetia. Of the 850 refugees in his camp who were eligible to vote, only 32 took a government-provided bus to a polling station in Chechnya - and most of those said they only wanted a free ride and wouldn't vote.
The six candidates running against Kadyrov were virtual unknowns. While posters touting Kadyrov's Pure intentions (and) strong leadership were prominent across the republic, only in the capital did a few for some of his opponents appear.
Kadyrov promised that if elected, he would create a commission to investigate all the crimes committed in Chechnya in the years since the Soviet collapse. He also said he would push for a renewal of the limited amnesty offered this year in a largely unsuccessful effort to encourage rebels to lay down their weapons.
