Russians reflect ahead of polls

By Richard Galpin
BBC News, Moscow

There are almost 100,000 polling stations across the country

Russia is observing what officials are calling a day of silence before people vote for a new parliament in Sunday's general election.

The media is banned from referring to parties, politicians, policies or opinion polls.

Campaigning last month was low key, mainly because most believe the result is a foregone conclusion.

The run up to this election has also been marred by increasing allegations that the vote could be rigged.

After a month of campaigning, mostly fought through the media, Saturdays is a day of reflection for the Russian electorate.

Few international observers

With the overwhelming belief that the result of this election is beyond doubt, one concern will be how many people actually come out to vote.

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Although changes to the electoral law mean there is no required minimum turnout, it remains important for the legitimacy of the party which wins.

Another major issue is whether the election will be free and fair.

More and more people have been stepping forward saying they have been pressurised to vote in a particular way.

This is even more of a concern, given how few international observers are here to monitor the vote.

There are just 400 to cover almost 100,000 polling stations across what is the world's biggest country.

Europe's main election monitoring organisation abandoned its plans to send a big team to Russia after accusing the Russian government of imposing unacceptable restrictions and of deliberately delaying the issuing of visas.