Russia: last day of presidential election campaign

Today is the last day of the presidential election campaign in Russia before the elections due to take place on Sunday. According to the latest surveys, the candidate with most chances to take the seat currently held by President Vladimir Putin is deputy prime minister Dmitri Medvedev, who is supported by the incumbent head of state.

The electoral campaign has been, however, marked by repeated accusations from the opposition parties who are unsatisfied with the discrimination they have been subjected to by the media.

Central Electoral Commission head Vladimir Tchourov has admitted for Le Monde that Medvedev was broadcast many more times than his opponents but he argued that he just happened to receive more attention from the press.

According to a Medialoguia study, Medvedev was broadcast 1832 times between December 10 when Putin announced his support for him and February 26. In the same time, his counter-candidates benefited from less broadcasting time. Thus, ultranationalist Vladimir Jirinovsky appeared 533 times, Communist candidate Gennady Zyouganov 479 times and Andrei Bogdanov 258 times.