Overlooked by webcams and gaggles of election observers, Russians voted in elections that exposed vastly different opinions about the merits of Vladimir Putin ahead of his expected Kremlin return.
Six observers watched the presidential election vote in one Moscow polling station, often outnumbering the voters, while wires trailed from an unobtrusive webcam mounted on a column opposite the ballot boxes.
Facing public anger at apparent vote-rigging in December's parliamentary polls won by the ruling United Russia party, Putin ordered that polling stations be fitted with webcams, whose feeds can be viewed online.
The protest movement that drew huge rallies after the December polls and Putin's decision to run again as president has encouraged its supporters to register as observers in an effort to clean up the polls.
"I want to be sure that everything is lawful and I'm going to keep watch to make sure it is. It's an experience," said observer Irina Shvetsova, who took photographs as the ballot boxes were prepared for the vote.
Another observer, Alexander Machnev, a 26-year-old property lawyer, said he had joined the protest movement in anger over the alleged vote fraud in December.
"I was outraged by the quantity of vote-rigging in the Duma elections," he said.
"I don't believe that more than half of the voters backed United Russia. I just can't believe it."
He said he became an observer through Rosvybory, or Russian Elections, a website set up by protest leader Alexei Navalny to make it as simple as possible to become an observer.
Russia only allows international observers and those accredited through political parties or candidates.
Machnev said he had already noticed something suspicious -- a bus with a route in the Moscow region parked outside the polling station. It drove off as soon as he got out his camera, he said.
"I suspect that they were bringing false voters to rig the vote," he said, adding they could vote in Moscow with absentee ballots or under false names.
Otherwise it was business as usual at polling stations in Moscow, with Soviet-style stalls offering incentives for those who turned out -- cut-price cakes, honey and even Russian flags.
Those voting for Putin said they saw no alternative to their strongman leader, but others gave starkly different verdicts on the man who has dominated Russian politics for over a decade.
"For whom, except Putin? Because he is a real leader. I believe him," said pensioner Victoria Semyonova.
"I don't see anyone better than Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin for Russia. So far there are no others," said a middle-aged man in a leather jacket named Sergei, who declined to give his surname.
But retired librarian Elvira Fedina whispered that she had voted "against" Putin.
"He's too rich," she said, gesturing in disgust.
Those backing billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, standing as the only independent candidate and expected to win 8.7 percent of the vote according to the latest VTsIOM poll, cited his programme.
"I'm for Prokhorov. For the new guy. I like his programme," said Gennady Boyev, 42, a small business owner.
"Prokhorov, because there are no other choices for normal people. I like his programme. It's reasonable, clear and understandable. It's concrete steps," said Natalya Chaikurova, 49, an English teacher wrapped in a fur jacket.
Another voter, Irina Litovchenko, 61, who works in sports, said she preferred the veteran Communist leader, Gennady Zyuganov, who is contesting the presidency for the fourth time.
"I like his approach to the job best. He impresses me most," she said.
Asked about the possibility of vote-rigging to ensure Putin's victory, she shrugged.
"I don't know, in our country anything is possible. I hope not."
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