MOSCOW, Feb 7: Europe’s main election watchdog cancelled plans to monitor Russia’s presidential election next month, citing unacceptable restrictions imposed by Moscow.

Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of outgoing President Vladimir Putin, is overwhelming favourite to win the March 2 contest that Kremlin opponents say is slanted in his favour.

“We made every effort in good faith to deploy our mission,” said ODIHR director Christian Strohal in a statement. “The Russian Federation has created limitations that are not conducive to undertaking election observation.”

A verdict from the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is regarded by Western states as the best yardstick of whether a vote is fair and the group’s withdrawal is likely to damage further Russia’s democratic credentials.

The pullout follows weeks of argument over the observer mission. Russia said the monitors could arrive only 11 days before the vote but the watchdog, described by Russian officials as a tool of western states, said they needed longer.

Russia said the ODIHR decision was unacceptable.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) parliamentary assembly also said it would not monitor the vote. The assembly monitors elections jointly with the ODIHR, but usually plays a junior role.

“Unless there is a miracle and the foreign minister comes and says take as many (observers) as you want into Russia, the mission is off,” Strohal said.

“We are a small group that stands around politely and looks at the (election) process. If the big Russian Federation is afraid of that, well, I can’t believe that,” he said in Vienna.

The only official western observer group that has not pulled out is a team from the Council of Europe, which does not usually take the lead in monitoring major elections.

In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said ODIHR had displayed “contempt for basic ethical norms ... which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring”.

Last year the ODIHR pulled out of monitoring Russia’s parliamentary election over similar issues, though the OSCE’s parliamentary assembly did send a team. Putin’s United Russia party won a landslide victory.

ASSERTIVE RUSSIA: The European Union said in a statement it attached great importance to credible international election observation and that it regretted the ODIHR would not be going to Russia.

“Once again I urge the Russian authorities to make sure that these elections will be conducted in accordance with Russia’s commitments as a member of the OSCE,” said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

Russia is showing increasing assertiveness in its dealings with the West and has said it will no longer tolerate Western governments lecturing it about its democracy.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking before the ODIHR announced its pullout, said the watchdog had been trying to dictate its terms to Russia. “A country which respects itself accepts no ultimatums,” he told a news briefing.

Masha Lipman, an analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Centre, a think tank, said the OSCE pullout would “add to the sense that something is deeply wrong with Russian democracy”.

“Of course this is a blow to Russia’s image but this is one more message to the Russian constituency that Russia stands up to the West.”

Opinion polls show Medvedev enjoys over 70 per cent support.

The 42-year-old first deputy prime minister emerged as frontrunner after he received Putin’s endorsement.

Putin is constitutionally barred from serving a third consecutive term. Most analysts predict that he will be the power behind the throne under a Medvedev presidency.

Opposition parties have called the election a farce, pointing to blanket coverage of Medvedev’s campaign on state-controlled television and the lack of strong rivals.

On Wednesday the SPS, a small opposition party, said it would boycott the vote.

“I don’t want to participate in the event, which is obviously unconstitutional and false. I want an active boycott,” said one of the group’s leaders, Nikita Belykh.

The SPS is a small party but has influence over Russia’s marginalised intelligentsia. It has already said it will not field a presidential candidate.

Medvedev’s backers say his popularity is natural in a country enjoying its strongest economic boom in a generation and where voters regard him as heir to the popular Putin.—Reuters