Kremlin's man wins Chechnya polls

With nearly 85 percent of votes counted by 0400 GMT yesterday, Alu Alkhanov, 47, handpicked by President Vladimir Putin for the role, won nearly 74 percent of votes in Sunday's polls, more than enough for an outright victory.

But the career policeman Alkhanov faces a battle to garner some of the standing enjoyed by his hard-nosed predecessor Akhmad Kadyrov, assassinated in May, and to bring stability to a region where separatists are becoming more audacious in their attacks.

"I feel an enormous burden of responsibility," Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying after the first returns from the polls appeared. "I feel no euphoria. There is a clear understanding that a lot of hard work is ahead."

The poll took place against a backdrop of heavy fighting in Chechnya and two plane crashes that killed at least 89 people elsewhere in Russia.

Investigators say traces of explosives were found on both planes, and many Russians blame Chechen separatists for the disasters.

On Sunday, a man identified as a wanted Chechen rebel was killed by his own bomb near a polling station in the capital, Grozny. He had tried to enter the polling station but while running away triggered the device, an election official said. No one else was hurt.

Separatists assassinated Kadyrov in a May bomb attack that showed the precarious nature of Russian rule. They have vowed to kill Alkhanov as another "Moscow stooge."

"Like last time, the authorities will be signing the death warrant of the man they pick. Neither elections, nor Russia's current politics in Chechnya will bring the desired results," rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev said in a recent statement.