Kremlin opponents sidelined in Russia local polls

MOSCOW, Mar 10 (Reuters) Local elections across Russia on Sunday will be the biggest test of public opinion since President Vladimir Putin was re-elected two years ago, but his opponents say they will also be a new low point for democracy.

About 17 million people, or just under one fifth of Russia's electorate, are eligible to vote in a ''Super Sunday'' a newly introduced fixed date to elect mayors, town councils and regional parliaments.

The elections are being watched closely for clues on how the country will vote in next year's parliamentary election and a presidential poll a year later.

The Kremlin says holding dozens of local polls on one day -- the second Sunday of March -- will save state funds spent on organising the elections. But Putin's opponents see the ''Super Sunday'' as a new attack on democracy.

They say fighting simultaneous campaigns across the vast country requires huge resources from parties, which puts United Russia -- the Kremlin-endorsed richest political group -- at an immediate advantage.

A key opposition party, Motherland (Rodina), has been barred from running in seven of the highest-profile contests for regional parliaments. Local courts ruled it had committed procedural violations.

Motherland took 9 per cent of the national vote in a 2003 election to the State Duma, or parliament. It says it is the victim of a vendetta with Kremlin officials who are determined to destroy it. Putin's administration denies the allegation.

''The people now in charge of the Kremlin administration are rubbing out the results of 15 years of the new, democratic Russia,'' Motherland leader Dmitry Rogozin told Reuters. ''Russia is ceasing to be democratic.'' NOT SO SUBTLE Sunday's vote may mark a shift to less subtle tactics by Putin's political strategists.

The Kremlin's opponents have long accused it of manipulating party politics from behind the scenes. They say one of the most common methods has been to use ''fake'' opposition parties to steal votes from their real rivals.

Most commentators say Motherland was one of those ''fake'' parties until Rogozin fell out with his handlers and started trying to challenge the Kremlin.

But until recently Putin's strategists would not have gone so far as to bar a major opposition party from a ballot for fear of provoking Western criticism, say analysts.

''There are groups in the Kremlin who believe that (the old) methods are not necessary any more,'' said Nikolai Petrov of the Carnegie Moscow Center, adding that those groups now hold the upper hand.

Critics of Putin's six years in office say he has rolled back democratic freedoms. He is under extra scrutiny this year as Russia for the first time holds the presidency of the G8 club of industrialised democracies.

The issue is not a big concern at home, opinion polls show.

Putin, who was elected to a second and final term in 2004, is hugely popular with Russians, who are enjoying an oil-fuelled economic boom and like their president's strongman image.

REUTERS SY HS1527