By Conor Sweeney
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin's chosen successor Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday his refusal to hold television debates ahead of a March 2 election showed the ballot was a farce.
Europe's leading election watchdog said it would not be able to monitor the presidential poll properly because the Kremlin had imposed serious restrictions on observer numbers and length of stay. No decision had been made yet on the mission, it said.
Medvedev's opponents, wary of Putin's plans to retain influence behind the scenes, said the Kremlin wanted to silence them and that it would be even harder for opposition candidates to secure air time to get their views across.
"(The Kremlin is) afraid to face us," the main opposition candidate, veteran Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, told reporters on a campaign trip to Siberia's Altai region.
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