President Vladimir Putin occupied the first 10 minutes of Monday evening's main television news bulletin on Russia's popular First Channel, railing against foreigners poking their "snotty noses" into Russia's affairs.

It showed him visiting a new housing estate near St Petersburg, drinking tea with a military officer and stressing the need for future governments to stick to current policies.

One hour earlier, the other main television channel, RTR, led its evening news bulletin with a similar 10-minute report of Mr Putin's activities and remarks.

With days to go before a parliamentary election on Sunday, Russia's big state-controlled television networks are the Kremlin's best campaign friend.

Mr Putin is heading the national slate for United Russia, the main pro-government force, and opposition politicians complain the government and its preferred party are drowning out everyone else on the airwaves.

"The media are biased," said Alexander Yushenko, a spokesman for the Communist Party, Russia's largest opposition group.

"Every day we record and analyse all the television news programmes. The results are unfortunate - last week United Russia had 66 per cent, the Communist Party six per cent, the LDPR seven per cent, Fair Russia eight per cent and Yabloko three per cent."

The Centre for Journalism in Extreme Situations, a Russian NGO, conducted its own study of how television airtime was distributed in October on the big two channels which are most Russians' main source of news.

It found 77 per cent of First Channel airtime went to Mr Putin and his government and a further 16.5 per cent to United Russia.

With another 1.7 per cent for the Central Electoral Commission, that left less than five per cent of airtime to divide between all the other parties in the election.

Some see nothing wrong with United Russia's television dominance.

"United Russia is like the US Republican Party and Democratic Party combined, so of course they prevail in the media," said Sergei Markov, a Kremlin-connected analyst who is on the United Russia candidate list.

"But it also reflects the preferences of the electorate."

The Central Electoral Commission, responsible for ensuring the conduct of Russia's election, did not respond to a written question on the issue of fairness.

Opposition parties, long inured to discriminatory treatment even outside election season, have cried foul - but to little effect.

"We take as much airtime as they give, what else can we do?" said Sergei Mitrokhin, a spokesman for the social democratic party Yabloko. "It is impossible to struggle against it."

The SPS, a small liberal opposition party, petitioned the Supreme Court this month attempting to have Mr Putin struck off the United Russia candidates' list. It alleged he was abusing his position to undermine the opposition.

"The Supreme Court refused our request," said Anna Solodukha, a spokeswoman for SPS. "The respondent did not appear. The judge said that Vladimir Putin had been sent a telegram about the case but as it wasn't possible to find him, the telegram was not delivered."

Kremlin officials often point to a large number of independent regional newspapers and to the Internet as proof that Russia's media is healthy and pluralistic.

"The majority of the population don't have access to the Internet and get their information only from state TV channels," countered Yabloko's Mitrokhin. "This indicates there is no real freedom of speech."

The Levada Centre, an independent pollster, agrees. Its data suggests nearly 80 per cent of Russians get their information from the two main TV channels.

Just in case voters risk not getting the Putin electoral message via television, United Russia has organised a billboard blitz across major cities nationwide.

"Moscow votes for Putin!" reads one of the most commonly seen banners in the capital.

"Putin's Plan - Victory for Russia!" reads another, echoing the slogans of Soviet times which were designed to inspire the masses to do their electoral duty.

New rules for Russia's parliamentary election

Russia votes on Sunday in a parliamentary election expected to hand a big victory to President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party and help him keep a hold on power after his term ends next year.

Since the last election to the 450-seat lower house of parliament, or State Duma, electoral rules have undergone major changes.

Kremlin critics say these changes benefit United Russia while disadvantaging smaller opposition parties. Supporters of the changes say they streamline the electoral system and are in line with practices in developed democracies.

The changes are:

In previous elections, half the lawmakers were chosen on a party list system and half directly from constituencies. The constituencies have now been scrapped. Lawmakers can only win election based on nationwide support for their party list.

The threshold for parties to qualify for seats in the Duma has been raised from five per cent of the vote at the last election in 2003 to seven per cent now.

Voters can no longer tick the "against all" option on the ballot paper. Opposition parties said this option provided an opportunity for voters to register their protest against the political system.

The minimum turnout threshold of 25 per cent for the election to be valid has also been dropped. There is now no minimum turnout requirement.

The process for registering a political party - without which a party cannot apply to compete in an election - has been amended. Some in the opposition say the new procedures are so burdensome that, in effect, they exclude smaller parties with limited resources from the political process.

Restrictions on what can be said during a campaign have been tightened.

"Negative information" about other parties cannot be broadcast on television.

New legislation has also widened the definition of extremist pronouncements and toughened punishments for anyone convicted of making them.The new law has been used to start a prosecution against a leading member of the Yabloko opposition party over his criticism of the Kremlin.

Parties cannot form blocs to contest the election. Lawmakers cannot switch parties after they have been elected.

Parties already represented in parliament qualify automatically for the election. Those that are not can either submit a list of 200,000 signatures, or a cash deposit. The size of the deposit has increased from 37.5 million roubles ($1.55 million) in 2003 to 60 million roubles at this election.

Parties must also have at least 50,000 members, up from 10,000 in 2003, and establish branches with at least 500 members in half of Russia's regions.

State funding for registered parties has increased since 2003. Donations to parties cannot be made anonymously or by foreign countries, companies or citizens and tight controls have been introduced on spending and maximum donations.