They also suggest he will be tough candidate to beat in June's election to succeed President Yeltsin. Mr Putin is Mr Yeltsin's preferred successor. However, observers say Mr Putin's popularity could slump if the Russian military forces suffer setbacks in their fight with the breakaway Chechens. He was also in contact with other party leaders. Some analysts had suggested that voter apathy after an extremely dirty campaign would result in a low turnout.
Many candidates are excellent hard-working people.
President Yeltsin has repeatedly clashed with the outgoing Communist-dominated parliament over budgets and attempts to impeach him. Irregularities Isolated complaints have been received by the Central Electoral Commission of late campaigning and of voters not being informed in good time of the change of address of some polling stations in Moscow. Otherwise, no serious violations of the rules have been reported. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.