Chechnya Ready To Vote For New President: Electoral Commission

MOSCOW, Aug 26 (AFP) - Officials in Russia's war-torn republic of Chechnya said Thursday that preparations were complete for this weekend's presidential election, a controversial vote expected to be won by a Kremlin-backed candidate.
More than 580,000 people have been registered to vote for a successor to Akhmad Kadyrov who died in a bomb attack in Grozny in May, Baudin Yuchayev, a member of Chechnya's electoral commission, told AFP by telephone.
There would also be additional voter lists included on the day of the election, Sunday, for refugees not yet registered elsewhere, he said.
Alu Alkhanov, a 47-year-old career police officer whom Kadyrov appointed interior minister for the republic last year, was considered the frontrunner in the vote.
Hundreds of Russian servicemen among the 70,000 currently deployed in Chechnya began early voting on Wednesday, Yuchayev said.