A Kremlin-backed career police officer was set to be crowned leader of Chechnya in a vote Sunday that Moscow hopes will show progress towards peace in the embattled republic but that was nonetheless punctuated by violence.
In a grisly reminder of the threat from rebels who have waged a decade-long conflict with Moscow, a man carrying a package filled with explosives blew himself up near a polling station in Grozny when apprehended by police.
The shadow of violence ensured that the Chechen capital was eerily deserted save for hordes of security personnel patrolling the streets for the election, which was expected to see interior minister Alu Alkhanov cruise past his six rivals.
The poll, which was forced by the killing four months ago of president Akhmad Kadyrov in an explosion, comes a week after Chechen rebels killed up to 50 people in a raid in Grozny, sparking fears similar attacks could occur on Sunday.
But election officials insisted that the vote had passed smoothly despite the death of the blast suspect, a 25-year-old said by local officials to be a member of an "illegal armed group," which underlined the lurking threat of unrest. According to rebel sources, two local officials and three police were also killed in a clash in the mountain settlement of Makazha Vedenski. Another policeman was killed when rebels also fired on a polling station housed in a school in the village of Sernovodsk.
But voting at a polling station in Grozny, Zina, 45, and her husband Magomed, 49, expressed hope Alkhanov could quell the latest five-year bout of conflict.
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 Saunukayev said he had cast his vote for outsider Abdullah Bugayev.
But ever since the Kremlin signalled its support for career police officer Alkhanov, unknown to most Chechens until Kadyrov's killing, he has dominated the news on state-controlled television, both national and local.
The head of a polling station in the village of Znamenskoye, Mutaz Astamirov, was expecting an overwhelming victory for the Kremlin's man. Fears of a repetition of the rebel raids had prompted many voters to leave the capital for the weekend, leaving it resembling a ghost town.
The rebels have also vowed to organise more attacks, while Chechen extremists stand accused by the Russian media of blowing up two passenger jets that crashed last week with the loss of 90 lives.
The streets in Grozny were spookily quiet, populated mainly by armed security forces. On the usually bustling main drag Prospekt Pobedi the cafes were closed, while the city's central market was also shut. Thousands of extra security forces personnel have been brought in to ensure that the vote passes off peacefully. At one polling station in the capital 20 men armed with automatic rifles were checking identity papers.
At the close of polls, 79.54 percent of the electorate had cast their ballots, way exceeding the 30 percent threshold needed to make the election valid, local election officials said. Results were only expected on Monday.