MOSCOW, Dec 20: Leaders of one of the two wings of Russia’s democratic opposition said in a statement on Saturday they would boycott next year’s presidential elections.

The heads of the Union of Right Forces (SPS) said state-controlled media that dominates the nation was too obedient to Russian President Vladimir Putin and that the liberal opposition stood no chance in elections scheduled for March 14.

And so, they said, there was no reason to run.

Pro-Putin factions swept to power in a December 7 vote to the State Duma lower house of parliament. The Kremlin now holds a majority in the chamber that could allow it to alter the Russian constitution.

The second main liberal opposition front in Russia — the Yabloko party run by Grigory Yavlinsky — opened a two-day meeting Saturday to decide whether it would stand.

An announcement from Yabloko was expected Sunday.

The overwhelmingly popular Putin used a national television address to announce Thursday that he would run again.

The opposition letter obtained by AFP led off with the name of SPS leader Boris Nemtsov and included the support of the widow of Nobel peace prize winner Andrei Sakharov, Yelena Bonner.

The statement accused the Kremlin of “manipulating public opinion, censorship, (and) the absence of an independent media” in the Duma vote.

“Under these circumstances, the presidential elections will inevitably end up being a farce in which reasonable and decent people should not participate.

“For this reason we have only one choice: not to take part in these elections — either to boycott, or to vote against all.”

The statement said this would become a vote against the “return of totalitarianism in Russia.” —AFP