Kremlin candidate to be Chechnya president

REBEL Chechnya voted for a new president yesterday, in a virtually one-horse race which the Kremlin hopes will help bring peace to the war-devastated region, but which many observers doubt will make a real difference.

All the other leading candidates have already dropped out, leaving Kremlin-backed candidate Akhmad Kadyrov a near certain winner when results are announced today.

“There will be no second round,” a confident Kadyrov said after voting in his native village of Tsentoroi in foothills south of the regional capital, Grozny. One of seven candidates, the former Muslim cleric needs over half the vote to win outright.