Campaigning for Russia's parliamentary election ended today with President Vladimir Putin's party on course for a landslide victory and opposition groups voicing fears of widespread ballot-rigging.
Mr Putin is leading the United Russia party into Sunday's vote and will use the big majority it is expected to win to cement his grip on power even after he steps down from the presidency at the end of his second term next year.
Most Russian voters credit Mr Putin with restoring stability and economic growth after the chaos of the 1990s. Opinion polls indicate his party will pick up about 60 percent of the vote on Sunday, with its nearest rivals trailing far behind.
One of Putin's most vocal critics, former chess champion Garry Kasparov, said the vote would be illegitimate because, he said, the Kremlin would rig the result.
Officials deny any such rigging campaign and Mr Putin has said he expected the election to be fair and transparent.
Mr Kasparov, who served five days in prison this week for organising an illegal demonstration, urged voters to spoil their ballot papers on Sunday in protest.
"We must show people that these elections are absolutely illegal and illegitimate," Mr Kasparov told a news briefing. He is not running in the election and his opposition coalition does not have widespread support.
Opinion polls show the Communists are the only party other than United Russia assured of exceeding the 7 per cent threshold to qualify for seats in parliament.
But Russian pollsters have said they believe last-minute shifts in voter intentions should give two other parties, the pro-Kremlin Fair Russia and the nationalist LDPR, just enough votes to sneak into parliament.
Kremlin opponents and non-governmental groups say they have registered large numbers of violations of election rules.
They have reported dozens of cases of people being told by their employers to turn up for work on Sunday where managers will check if they voted, and of people being registered to vote in more than one polling station.