For the election to be valid, the turnout should be at least 30 percent. There are 561,817 eligible voters in the Chechen Republic. The turnout in Sunday’s election was a record high. According to the Echo of Moscow radio, it was almost 90 percent. The turnout was especially high in the mountainous areas of Chechnya and in Grozny, the capital. Refugees from Ingushetia, rebels pardoned under an amnesty and those held in detention centers were allowed to participate in the voting.

Seven candidates ran for the Chechen presidential election, including Akhmad Kadyrov, the incumbent Chechen President; Avkhat Khanchukayev, a professor at State Chechen University; the poet Nikolay Paizulayev; Kutuz Saduyev, Deputy General Director of the Grozneftegaz oil and gas company; Abdula Bugayev; Shamil Burayev, the former head of the Achkhoi-Martan district administration; and Khusein Biybulatov, the advisor for the Director of the Electrogorsk Research Center for the Safety at Atomic Stations.