Kremlin hopeful keeps low key

BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Russia officially set out its presidential campaign Saturday, with First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as a candidate favored to win the March 2 election.

Candidates also include Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, head of the Russian Liberal-Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Chairman of the Russian Democratic Party Andrei Bogdanov.

Russia's First Channel, the Russia TV Company and the TV Centeras well as Mayak, Radio Russia and Voice of Russia will grant free air time to advertising spots and TV debates.

LOW-KEY CAMPAIGNING

Medvedev, nominated by the ruling United Russia Party and handpicked by the popular President Vladimir Putin as his successor, is the clear front-runner in the election campaign.

The state-run VTsIOM opinion center forecast on Jan. 31 that Medvedev would receive 74.8 percent of the vote.

Medvedev's nearest rival, Zyuganov, a veteran party leader, who has lost two previous presidential elections, is shown obtaining 12.8 percent of the vote.

The other two candidates are even less of a threat. Zhirinovskyis expected to get 11.5 percent while Bogdanov a mere 0.9 percent.

Unlike the high-profile campaign in the parliamentary elections last December, the ruling party just published its election program -- "Putin's Plan, the Great Country's Worthy Future" -- ineight closely typed columns in the national Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper, saying "We consider ourselves continuers of the patriotic tradition of the whole of Russia's 1,000-year statehood."

Medvedev has refused to take part in TV debates against three other election contenders, saying he will continue his daily job.

Medvedev's campaign team, headed by Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Sobyanin, is planning an "ascetic" campaign, the Moscow Times newspaper quoted a United Russia official as saying, who declined to be named.

"This is not only because the other candidates are not serious competitors. It was the wish of Medvedev himself," the official said.

In fact, the Kremlin hopeful has been dominating television news broadcasts, mostly alongside Putin, ever since the president publicly gave him the nod as his preferred successor last December.

Zyuganov and Zhirinovsky launched their campaigns by publishing open letters and campaign outlines in national newspapers such as the Komsomol Pravda on Saturday. Officials for Zhirinovsky's campaign said 60 different television advertisements will be broadcast to support him.

HIGH POPULARITY

Backed by the pro-Kremlin parties of United Russia, Fair Russia,and Agrarian and Civil Force, and with clear endorsement of populous and strong President Putin, Medvedev enjoys high popularity as presidential candidate across the country.

A poll conducted two weeks after Medvedev's nomination showed his popularity has more than doubled since Putin named him his preferred successor on Dec. 10.

About 79 percent of respondents to the poll said they would vote for Medvedev, a higher figure than Putin's own election results in 2004, when 71.3 percent of voters cast ballots for him.

Moreover, Putin has said he would accept the post of prime minister if Medvedev is elected president, a move analysts viewed as a guarantee for his longtime ally Medvedev to win the election.

In addition, Medvedev's high support rate is partly owing to the eight-year economic boom under Putin in Russia.

After the chaos of the early 1990s, Putin has given Russians a new, confident self-image and real material gains, presiding over eight years of GDP growth in excess of 7 percent.

A survey shows that some 67 percent of interviewees rated Putin's performance as excellent, while only 3 percent expressed dissatisfaction with his work.

As First Deputy Prime Minister under Putin, Medvedev has for the past two and a half years been in charge of national social projects that were crucial to the national economy.

Most Russian people want continuity in national policies to keep the country stable for a far better-off life.

Medvedev has pledged to maintain the continuity of policies forged by President Putin, a gesture that helps him to become the hopeful Kremlin leader.

"The most important thing for our country is the continuation of calm and stable development," Medvedev said in his first major campaign address on Jan. 22.

"We need decades of stable development that our country has been deprived of," he said.