by Yana Dlugy
GROZNY, Russia, Aug 29 (AFP) - Chechens on Sunday voted in an election to replace their slain pro-Moscow leader as residents fearing rebel raids fled the republic's capital, leaving it resembling a ghost town.
Although seven candidates are standing in the race, the Kremlin-backed interior minister, Alu Alkhanov, is widely expected to win the vote, the latest in Moscow's decade-old effort to bring the rebellious Muslim province under its control.
The vote was forced by the killing of former president Akhmad Kadyrov, a Moscow-based mufti and former rebel, in an explosion in central Grozny on May 9 claimed by separatists who have been locked in a bloody struggle with pro-Russia forces.
The new poll, which follows Kadyrov's crushing victory in an election last October, comes a week after Chechen rebels staged a raid in the capital Grozny that sparked fears similar attacks would occur on Sunday.
Among the first to vote at a polling station in the capital Grozny were Zina, 45, and her husband Magomed, 49, who expressed hope Alkhanov could quell the latest devastating five-year-old conflict.
"My husband served with Alkhanov in the army. He said he was a very decent person," said Zina.
"We hope that if he gets elected things might change for the better. I told my husband this morning let's go and vote, maybe our vote will count for something."
Many believe the conspicuous Kremlin blessing bestowed on Alkhanov has relegated the other candidates to the status of also-rans, but 76-year-old voter Khamzat Saunukaev said he had cast his vote for outsider Abdullah Bugaev.
"I voted because I want the rebublic to stabilise. This anarchy has been going on for 13 years and I hope that it will change after this election," he said, proudly wearing the traditional tall Chechen papakh hat.
However fears of a repetition of the rebel raids last weekend that killed from six to 50 people, according to tolls from the opposing sides, had prompted many voters to leave the capital.
The day before the poll, gone was the stream of cars that usually pick their way around the pot-holed roads in Grozny and the normally-bustling streets of the bombed-out city were almost eerily empty.
At one of Grozny's 'points of temporary accommodation,' the so-called PVRs that house refugees who have returned to Chechnya from neighboring Ingushetia, only a few dozen people remained out of the 620 who normally live there.
"Everyone who could fled," said Aminat Daatova, 47, who has lived in the red-brick structure with outside toilets for a year. "Everyone is afraid of more rebel strikes. If I could, I would have left too, but I have nowhere to go."
The rebels have also vowed to organize more attacks.
"The Grozny raid was only the beginning, there are big things planned for here," said Musleem, who coordinates supplies and manages communication for one of the rebel divisions and spoke on condition of anonymity.
"As soon as there is an opening, we'll strike," he told AFP.
Despite the presence of the seven other candidates in the poll, almost everyone expects the 47-year-old Alkhanov to win.
Ever since the Kremlin signalled its support for the career police officer, unknown to most Chechens until Kadyrov's killing, he has dominated the news on state-controlled television, both national and local.
The first war between rebels and Moscow started in 1994 and ended in 1996, when the separatists forced Russian troops to withdraw and Chechnya gained de facto independence.
The latest conflict started in October 1999 as a quick, anti-terror operation that has since dissolved into a guerrilla conflict that continues to claim lives on nearly daily basis.
Some 587,000 registered voters were eligible to vote at 430 polling stations that opened at 8:00 am (0400 GMT) and were due to close 12 hours later, according to election officials.