Europe watchdog scraps plan to monitor Russia vote

By Christian Lowe and Conor Sweeney

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Europe's main election watchdog cancelled plans on Thursday to monitor Russia's presidential election next month, citing unacceptable restrictions imposed by Moscow.

Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of outgoing President Vladimir Putin, is overwhelming favourite to win the March 2 contest that Kremlin opponents say is slanted in his favour.

"We made every effort in good faith to deploy our mission," said ODIHR director Christian Strohal in a statement. "The Russian Federation has created limitations that are not conducive to undertaking election observation."

A verdict from the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is regarded by Western states as the best yardstick of whether a vote is fair and the group's withdrawal is likely to damage further Russia's democratic credentials.

The pullout follows weeks of argument over the observer mission. Russia said the monitors could arrive only 11 days before the vote but the watchdog, described by Russian officials as a tool of Western states, said they needed longer.

Russia said the ODIHR decision was unacceptable.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) parliamentary assembly also said it would not monitor the vote. The assembly monitors elections jointly with the ODIHR, but usually plays a junior role.

"Unless there is a miracle and the foreign minister comes and says take as many (observers) as you want into Russia, the mission is off," Strohal told Reuters.