By IRNA
Moscow : Voting is under way in Russia’s presidential poll, bringing to a close Vladimir Putin’s eight years in office.
Main contender Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is on the list against three challengers.
If elected, Medvedev, the Kremlin’s preferred candidate, has promised to make Putin his prime minister.
Saturday was declared an official “day of silence” with no campaigning allowed across Russia’s 11 time zones.
The other candidates are Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, Liberal Democrat Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Democratic Party candidate Andrei Bogdanov.
More than 109 million Russians are registered to vote in the elections.
IRNA reporter in Moscow said that there was any campaigning by any of the candidates.
There will be very little scrutiny of voting by Western election observers.
The main European election monitoring body – from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) – decided not to send a delegation.