ST. PETERSBURG (Reuters):

Regional polls in Russia next Sunday may be a blueprint for nationwide elections in the coming 18 months. If they are, the Kremlin's harshest critics will be watching the national votes from the sidelines.

The March 11 elections for local legislatures in 14 of Russia's nearly 90 regions have seen an unusually-high number of parties - most of them Kremlin critics - barred from taking part on technical grounds.

Those left out accuse the Kremlin of trying to purge Russian politics of its most awkward opponents in preparation for a Parliamentary vote in December and, most importantly, a presidential poll in 2008.

President Vladimir Putin is to step down after that vote and analysts say Kremlin political managers want no surprises as they try to engineer a smooth handover of power to a favoured successor, whom Putin has yet to name.

In Russia's second city of St. Petersburg, local observers said the liberal Yabloko party was set to win between five and 10 per cent of the vote before election officials disqualified it on a technicality.