Kadyrov is Moscow's favorite candidate

MOSCOW, September 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - In Chechnya - where basic services, political institutions and law enforcement barely function after nearly four years of war - the presidential election campaign started officially Friday, September 5, amid controversy and cries of foul play as troops cordoned off a television station in the capital of the war-ravaged republic.

Chechen Interior Ministry troops surrounded the headquarters of the Grozny state television station, which cancelled planned free appearances by the candidates in the October 5 poll, news agencies and television reported, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Our journalists were not allowed to go out on shoots," the station's deputy director Zaur Eskirkhanov told ITAR-TASS news agency.

The development was the latest step in a saga that unfolded this week in the southern republic.

The press ministry, to which Grozny television belonged, was combined with the nationalities ministry, a move that removed the press minister from his post.

A few weeks earlier, the minister had said he would oppose the head of the pro-Moscow administration in Chechnya Akhmad Kadyrov in the elections.

Kadyrov is among the three candidates with a realistic shot at the post, out of a total of 10.

Friday marked exactly a month before the election and the first day that they could meet with voters and begin running their advertisements in the media.

The October 5 election is a showpiece in the Kremlin's efforts to convince Russia and the world that the years of war in the separatist republic are finally over.

Kadyrov's main challengers include Malik Saidullayev, a Moscow businessman; and Aslanbek Aslakhanov , Chechnya 's deputy in Russia 's lower house of parliament.

Kadyrov is considered the favorite because he has controlled the administration in the north Caucasus republic for more than three years, following his appointment to the post by President Vladimir Putin, and is thought to be implicitly backed by the Kremlin.

However, some Chechens voting in upcoming presidential elections have already expressed a clear preference among the 10 candidates registered to stand. The winner, in their view, should be "anyone but Akhmad Kadyrov", according to an AFP report on August 22.

Kadyrov, a former mufti who has ruled the troubled republic for more than three years as head of the pro-Russian administration, is officially the favorite to win the October 5 poll, but for many of his fellow citizens his victory would be the last straw.

In today's Chechnya , control over local government structures can count more in an election than popularity among the voters.

Controls ensuring fair elections are less than foolproof - during a constitutional referendum in March 2003, foreign reporters were able to cast ballots in the poll that produced Soviet-style results of 85 percent turnout and 96 percent approval, AFP said.

The security situation in Chechnya raises heavy question marks over the Presidential poll

In a July opinion poll, Kadyrov trailed his main opponents, with only 13 percent of those questioned saying they would vote for him, compared with 23 percent who would vote for Saidullayev and 22 percent for Aslakhanov.

During his years in power, Kadyrov has developed an impressive, armed "security service" that official estimates put at around 250 men and unofficial estimates put at nearly 5,000.

Reports have swept Chechnya lately that "Kadyrov's men" have threatened people with force unless they voted for their candidate.

Spokesmen for Kadyrov have categorically denied such accusations.

Whatever the case, many in Chechnya - where feuding warlords fought for influence during the de facto independence of 1996-1999 - fear that a Kadyrov loss on October 5 will result in more bloodshed as his supporters refuse to recognize the winner.

The presidential election is a key element in the Kremlin's peace plan for the region - Putin launched the current war in 1999 while Prime Minister and the Kremlin is keen to show that the war is over before Putin faces reelection next March.

But such efforts have been belied by increased attacks on Russian targets in recent months, both within Chechnya and throughout Russia , including several suicide attacks in Moscow .