Pro-Putin party leads in Chechnya

Some 24,000 police and troops were deployed for the polls

A pro-Kremlin party is leading after Sunday's parliamentary elections in Chechnya, held amid tight security.

United Russia won about 60% of the vote, according to early returns in the North Caucasus republic, which has been ravaged by more than a decade of war.

Chechen separatist rebels and human rights activists dismissed the vote.

European parliamentary observers questioned the legitimacy of the poll, saying real power in Chechnya was "not democratic" and "out of control".

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Chechnya says the polling stations he was able to visit were memorable for their absence of voters and for the presence of armed guards.

It is Chechnya's first parliamentary poll since Moscow restored control in the region in 1999.

Turnout was 57%, election commission Chairman Ismail Baikhanov told Itar-Tass news agency.

Moscow says the election proves that Chechnya is returning to normality.

'Flawed' elections

Some 350 candidates were competing for 58 seats. Eight Russian parties fielded candidates and independents also stood.

Observers from Russia, the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference monitored the vote.

They elected a Chechen parliament to the sound of music. Allah and the warm weather helped Nezavisimaya Gazeta Mixed press over election

Since the rebels were ousted, Chechens have voted for a new constitution, enshrining the region's status as part of Russia, in a vote widely seen as flawed.

UK-based Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev dismissed the vote as "pseudo-elections".

Our correspondent says the new MPs face a daunting challenge: trying to improve the security situation in Chechnya while tackling massive unemployment and social problems.

"Real power... is based on a legitimacy that is not democratic," said Andreas Gross, head of a Council of Europe fact-finding mission in Chechnya.

He was referring to Ramzan Kadyrov, the powerful deputy prime minister, who commands a force of several thousand pro-Moscow fighters, the AFP news agency reports.