No programme, no debate but Putin cruising to poll win

Although the numbers planning to vote for him have dipped from last year’s high of 76.9 percent, Putin still commands a 71.5 percent of support, VTsIOM figures show.

For pro-Kremlin observers, Putin’s campaign is laying the ground for his future term and eschewing stunts that would only gain him a few points in the election.

“We see real hands-on work that has significantly greater results than populist fussing around for the sake of an extra one to two percent in elections,” said Nikolai Kalmykov of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

– Colourful cast –

With opposition leader Alexei Navalny barred from standing due to a fraud conviction, he is urging his supporters — many of them young — to boycott the polls.

The latest VTsIOM polls suggest the lowest turnout is likely to be among 18 to 24-year-olds.

Among those running against Putin are two new colourful characters who may have a political future ahead of them.

Ksenia Sobchak, a former reality show host turned liberal journalist, is standing on a “none of the above” ticket and has called for Navalny to be allowed on the ballot.

While she is forecast to come a distant fourth, this outspoken daughter of Saint Petersburg’s former mayor — Putin’s political mentor — is one of the few people who doesn’t fear him, and sparks could fly if they were to meet.

Another is debonair businessman Pavel Grudinin, the little-known director of an agribusiness who was chosen as the Communist candidate in December after veteran leader Gennady Zyuganov chose not to stand.

The moustachioed 57-year-old businessman, who has praised Stalin, scored well in early polls, prompting a wave of negative coverage from state and pro-Kremlin media over fears he could do better than planned, observers said.

If the vote were held today, he would win 7.3 percent, polls show.

“There is a campaign and it does have an element of intrigue… Sobchak and Grudinin,” said Kolesnikov, who said the polls would test Sobchak’s potential for leading a liberal party and Grudinin’s to take over from Zyuganov.