The Russian government’s choice for president of war-ravaged Chechnya appeared to be the victor Sunday in an election tainted by charges of fraud and shadowed by last week’s terrorist destruction of two airliners. Little more than two hours after polls closed, acting Chechen president Sergei Abramov said preliminary results showed Maj. Gen. Alu Alkhanov, the republic’s top police official and the Russian government’s new choice, had passed the 50-percent mark needed to win, the Interfax news agency reported. Amid fears of violence, a man blew himself up near a polling station after trying to enter it carrying a package, officials said. Worries about terrorism were stoked by the crashes of the Russian airliners five days before the election; officials said traces of explosives were found in the wreckage, and there are suspicions two Chechen women conducted the suicide attacks. Full Story
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