Harassment claims mar Russia poll
The United Russia party is portraying the poll as a referendum on Vladimir Putin's eight years in office.
And when he visited Krasnoyarsk early in the campaign, Mr Putin himself increased the stakes by saying a big majority would give him the "moral right" to continue to wield political influence even after he comes to the end of his term as president next spring.
All the 85 powerful regional governors now owe their loyalty to the Kremlin. Instead of being elected by the local population, they are directly appointed by Mr Putin.
Nikolai Petrov, an expert on Russian regional government at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Moscow, said "the goal for governors is to deliver as many votes as possible... it is an exam for them to prove their loyalty and efficiency".
"So I would say that fraud is inevitable and will be higher than ever." Mr Petrov said.
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