THE pro-Kremlin candidate steamrolled to victory on Monday in a poll on the outskirts of Moscow that had been seen by the opposition as a chance to lodge a high-profile presence near the seat of Russian power.
The Khimki District vote on the northwestern edge of the capital was one of a slate held on Sunday across Russia for the first time since President Vladimir Putin was overwhelmingly swept to power for a third term in March.
The ruling United Russia party that Putin founded and which is now headed by his prime minister and predecessor Dmitry Medvedev was leading in every race despite sporadic reports of violations by the candidates and observers.
The Khimki election was of particular interest to the opposition because the Moscow suburb was the site of months of protests against the destruction of part of a forest to build a new Kremlin-backed road.
Those well-organised but at times violent stand-offs spawned a new generation of anti-Kremlin leaders who later spearheaded the broader swell of street discontent that rose against Putin last winter.
And one of these was Yevgenia Chirikova -- the protest darling, who in the vote trailed former acting regional head Oleg Shakhov 17.6 per cent to 47.6 per cent.
"One can say with full confidence that Oleg Shakhov won this vote," local election commission chief Irek Vildanov was quoted as saying by Interfax.
The opposition has been trying to maintain traction since Putin's return but has suffered from periodically flagging attendance at protest rallies and the blow of new Kremlin legislation limiting their rights.
The restrictions stiffen protest penalties and force groups that get international funding to identify themselves as "foreign agents" -- a measure that appears aimed at associating their causes with the work of spies.
But it also remains a deeply splintered force that failed to rally behind a single candidate in Khimki and often bickers angrily in public about future strategy and its best leaders.
Chirikova tweeted that she did not plan to meet reporters at a formal press conference until Tuesday.
Things did not go much better for the anti-Putin forces in any of the other four contested elections -- a far more predictable outcome since protests had only seriously impacted Moscow and to some extent Saint Petersburg.
The Communist Party hopeful lost to his Kremlin rival with just 30 per cent of the vote in the agricultural Bryansk region while another leftist picked up just 22 per cent in nearby Ryazan.
Huge wins for United Russia were also recorded in the Far East and the central Volga Region.
The elections marked the first time that Russians had a chance to choose their regional leaders since January 2005 -- the year Putin cancelled such votes in response to growing militancy in the restless North Caucasus.
The measure -- with some clearly defined limits -- was brought back by Medvedev as one of his final acts before handing all formal powers to Putin.
But the liberal Vedomosti business daily said little seemed to have changed since the days when Russian regional races were characterised by low turnout and a high degree of confidence that the Kremlin man would win his seat.
"Old-Style Elections," the prominent daily remarked in a headline.
"Citizens did not turn out because yesterday's events resembled elections -- but only on the outside," it noted.
"The officials responsible for election results changed their tactics but tried to control the process as much as possible nonetheless."
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