At present, NTV broadcasts about eight hours a day. Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov has officially announced that he will run for re-election, Russian media reported on 27 March. Luzhkov was endorsed for re-election by a group of supporters on 13 March. Earlier this week, the Duma Communist Party faction announced that it might put forward a Communist candidate for the Moscow mayoral race. Luzhkov is considered to be the favorite.
Specialists say the system prevents electoral fraud.
The Tatarstan election, it should be remembered, had only one candidate. Conference participants also agreed to put forward Chechen parliament speaker Yusup Soslambekov as a candidate for president of the CPC at the upcoming congress of peoples of the North Caucasus in Nalchik. Speaking on local television on 27 March, Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudaev condemned the individual peace agreements that more than 120 Chechen villages have signed with Russian federal forces, AFP reported on 28 March. Figures released on 27 March indicate that the Interior Ministry's troops have suffered considerable losses in Chechnya. Russian media quoted Lt. Gen. Anatolii Shkirko, commander of the Internal Troops, as saying that 621 Interior Ministry servicemen had been killed since the military campaign began in December 1994.