Chechen CEC announces 90% votes for Putin

A sociological poll on the upcoming presidential election was held in cities and large settlements of Chechnya; its respondents were about 1500 people from various social groups, from pensioners to law enforcers, a source from the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Chechnya told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The poll was held in various Chechen localities and ended with polling residents of Grozny on March 11. It was conducted by public and youth activists, and members of social organizations and movements on the initiative of the Office of the Chechen Ombudsperson," said the source.

According to his story, about 90% of the respondents are ready to go to the polls; and the overwhelming majority of them intend to vote for the incumbent leader, Vladimir Putin.

The polling outcomes have raised distrust among local residents and activists. "I can rather confidently state that the polls held here fail to reflect the real state of things. First of all, because of the atmosphere of fear that has been planted here – people are simply afraid to express their real viewpoints, and say only what interviewers want to hear from them; hence the results – 90% of those who are ready to vote, and, probably, as many are ready to support Putin," Adlan, an activist, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

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