Chechnya cleansed from seven out of eight presidential candidates

In Chechnya, Vladimir Putin's trustees are actively working, while agents of other presidential candidates in Russia show little or no activity, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the presidential election in Russia is scheduled for March 18. According to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Russia, apart from the incumbent leader of the state, seven other candidates are registered for the presidential election in Russia.

As of February 28, in the streets of Grozny and other large settlements, there was not a single poster or banner of candidates, except campaign materials in support of the incumbent Russian President.

Out of 25 respondents interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" in Grozny, 13 people said that the result of the upcoming election "is already known," five did not rule out the second round of the voting, and eight preferred not to comment on the situation.

"Ordinary people express no particular interest in the upcoming election. The preferences of our leaders and officials are well known to everybody, and that is why people consider the result of this election to be a predetermined conclusion. The fact that we have only an office of candidate Putin in our republic, while there is still no visual agitation of at least one of the seven other candidates, already speaks a lot," said local resident Umar.

"It is not a secret for anyone how Chechnya should vote. It seems to me that the main task set by the authorities today is to ensure the maximum turnout of people at the election, but voices will be calculated as they see it should be. That is why the Putin's election office is so active in our republic, every day his trustees meet ordinary people, students, and so on, and this is shown on TV. This is done to say later that he was supported by the majority of people, since the election office worked well. No activities of other candidates' election offices are seen, although there is not too much time before the election," said Ruslan, another resident of Chechnya.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.