People in the Russian republic of Chechnya are voting in a presidential election that Moscow hopes will help bring peace to the troubled region. Security is currently extremely tight, with armed Russian police lining up to guard the polling stations. To prevent violence, 15,000 Russian soldiers had been deployed at the 426 polling stations - conducting weapons searches and keeping a close watch on events. Some human rights campaigners in Russia and abroad have denounced the election as a farce, accusing the Kremlin of trying to fix the result. At least 30 percent of the estimated 545,000 eligible voters must turn out to make the election valid. Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the vote as "the election of the first president of Chechnya".