Russians voted yesterday in a parliamentary election widely viewed as a referendum on President Vladimir Putin and overshadowed by opposition accusations that pro-Kremlin forces enjoy an unfair advantage.

Pollsters say Putin?s United Russia party will win an overwhelming victory and secure more than 60 percent of seats. More than 100 million Russians are eligible to vote in the election, being held in sub-zero winter temperatures.

The predictability of the result and lack of debate on key issues have led to apathy among voters, prompting an official drive to increase turnout, which officials said was running ahead of the showing in the 2003 election.

?I voted for Putin?, 68-year-old pensioner Valentin Nenashev said after casting the first ballot at polling station No. 130 in Vladivostok, Russia?s gateway to the Pacific and a naval base. ?I voted for a better life, for stability.?

Putin, 55, is by far Russia?s most popular politician after presiding over eight years of an economic boom. He aims to retain influence after stepping down as president in early 2008 and says a strong mandate from voters will give him that right.

Increasingly marginalized opposition parties said numerous election rule changes, heavily skewed media coverage, repeated instances of government pressure on voters and Putin?s own campaigning have made the contest unfair.

Stooges for Western powers

?These are the dirtiest, most irresponsible elections?? Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov told reporters after voting in Moscow. ?If under (late President Boris) Yeltsin there were two ways to get votes ? intimidation and fixing the returns ? now they have thought up at least 15 ways to entrap and betray voters.?

The publishing of opinion polls was banned in the days before the vote but pollsters say the Communists are the only party other than United Russia assured of exceeding the 7 percent threshold to qualify for seats in the new Duma.

Putin has said the elections will be completely democratic. He has attacked foreigners for ?poking their snotty noses? into Russia?s internal affairs and accused opposition politicians of being stooges for Western powers. The West?s main election watchdog, the ODIHR, is not monitoring the vote. It pulled out after a row with Moscow over delays in issuing visas.

Only about 300 foreign observers, roughly half of them from former Soviet republics, have been accredited for the election. The Kremlin says checks by foreign monitors are unnecessary because Russia has high standards of democracy.

As polling stations closed in Russia?s far east, figures suggested the voter mobilization drive was having the desired effect ? in Chukotka turnout was 73 percent, well up from 2003, and on the Kamchatka peninsula it was 54 percent.

?Voter activity is higher in all regions of Russia than it was in the 2003 election?? Central Election Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov told at a news briefing. Election officials said that national turnout, at 12.6 percent, was twice the level at the comparable stage of the 2003 election, when the final showing was 56 percent.

?I?m voting for United Russia. They?ll give political stability?? said Vladimir Minayov, who voted at Moscow?s School No. 1529, before going to work. Another man said he had voted for liberal opposition party Yabloko and a woman for the Communists ? although she would have cast her vote ?against all? candidates had that option not been removed from the ballot for this election.

Across Russia, election organizers created a holiday atmosphere redolent of one-party Soviet-era polls, setting up stalls offering cheap food and clothing to attract voters. In Barnaul, in the Altai region of Siberia, the ?Polar Bears? winter swimming club took a dip in the icy waters of the local river before going together to vote.

?Cold water invigorates. We are making our choice with a healthy body and healthy mind?, said Polar Bears chairman Alexander Zelyenetsky, who cast his vote for United Russia.

Conor SWEENEY