There is little doubt that Vladimir Putin will be awarded a second four-year term, winning Sunday's presidential election by a wide margin. The result was in little doubt after electoral officials in Russia confirmed that voter turnout had exceeded the 50 percent needed to validate the vote.

With approval ratings above 70 percent and with five opponents, none of whom has an approval rating of more than 10 percent, offering little in the way of competition or inspiration, it seemed that the only suspense of the electoral process was whether voter turnout would scratch by the necessary amount needed to make the election constitutionally valid.

That was the former KGB man's only worry in an election race that was always going to be won by the odds-on favourite with little or no challenge from the hobbled donkeys that made up the numbers.

Putin's election machine has been doing its best to get voters enthused about Sunday's competition. In Khabarovsk, in Russia's Far East, local election officials have been offering the incentive of a chance to win a three-day trip to China for anyone who casts their ballot.

Meanwhile, in Moscow's busy subway stations, posters courting the youth vote have been offering free tickets to a techno rave party. Even those resolutely sat at home in a bid to avoid the propaganda have been inundated by daily television ads by the Central Election Commission, which have been urging the population to turn out at the polls.

Challengers lack Presidential credentials

Whatever the incentive, those who do vote are expected to award Putin a landslide victory, mainly because none of those challenging him appear to have the credentials to lead the country into the second decade of post-communist rule.

From the outset of the election campaign controversy has surrounded the economist and ex-Communist Sergei Glazyev. The 43-year-old, who co-chaired the Motherland bloc to unexpected success in the 2003 parliamentary elections, is seen by many as the biggest threat to Putin.

However, Glazyev's party colleagues have recently made clear their support for the incumbent president. A fierce critic of recent economic reforms, the former foreign trade minister has built his campaign on his promise to improve welfare, declaring that successive governments have ignored social justice.

Outspoken candidates lose party backing

Another candidate who has lost the support of her party is Irina Khakamada, taking the mantle of most outspoken opponent of Vladimir Putin after previous holder of the title Ivan Rybkin dropped out of the race last week, saying the election has turned into a farce. Such has been her vehemence that her party, the centre-right Union of Right Forces, has disowned her in the election. "I am not afraid of the terrorists in power," she told the Kommersant daily.

"Our children must grow up as free people. Dictatorship will not be accepted." Khakamada has portrayed herself as bridging the gap between the older and younger generations and could rely on the fact that she is only the second woman to run for president to pick up some votes.

Another former KGB man surfaces

The Communist Party's candidate, Nikolai Kharitonov, caused surprise when he was handed the nomination over party leader Gennady Zyuganov in late December. More than just usurping Zyuganov, who was expected to stand for a third time, many were shocked at his appointment because Kharitonov, 55, is not even a party member.

A founder member of the People's Patriotic Union, the left-wing movement founded by Zyuganov in 1996 to unite opponents of reform, Kharitonov was also once a colonel in the KGB and took his Agrarian Party of Russia into the union at its inception. "I am not a member of the Communist Party, but when it comes to strength of ideological convictions, mine may be stronger than some of theirs," Kharitonov told Russian TV.

Man of the people

Oleg Malyshkin carries the Liberal Democratic Party's nomination into the election in place of the party's nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who chose not to run against Putin. Malyshkin, 52, has a lower profile than most of his rivals and little is known about his policies and views. He has, however, cultivated something of a "man of the people" image, playing on his past as a mining engineer.

Sergei Mironov's decision to stand has been a source of bewilderment among observers. As speaker of the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, Mironov has consistently backed President Putin even stating: "We all want Vladimir Putin to be the next president." He confounded voters further when he said, "I sincerely believe election opponents can both be - and not be - adversaries. I am not an adversary of Putin."

His election manifesto seems to have been built on his aims to "make people's lives better" and to ensure that living standards "reflect the country's natural, intellectual and spiritual wealth". He has also promised to fight corruption and tackle Russia's many environmental problems.

Campaign process criticized

All those standing against President Putin have been critical of the campaign process, saying the media, which are largely controlled by the government, are biased in the president's favor. Some even went so far as to file an official complaint with the Central Election Commission about the media coverage, but the commission rejected their claim.

At least 1,000 international observers will monitor the vote.

First results are expected as early as Monday.