Putin says he wants a fair and transparent election. But his critics rule this out since opposition parties have only limited access to air waves and media which are under the control of the Kremlin and United Russia.
There were reports from many parts of Russia that employers were putting pressure on people to turn out and vote on Sunday by threatening them with disciplinary action.
Kremlin critics say these reports confirmed their suspicion that the vote will be skewed to ensure a big personal endorsement for Putin. Russian law states voting is voluntary.
DEFENDING PUTIN
Central Election Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov has defended Putin's speech by saying that since the president is on the federal list of candidates for United Russia he has the right to publicly campaign for it.
Opinion polls show the Communists are the only party other than United Russia assured of exceeding the 7 percent threshold to qualify for seats in the new Duma.
Yabloko is one of several liberal parties expected to fall short of that threshold.
Last Saturday police broke up an anti-Putin rally in Moscow, giving opposition leader and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov five days in detention. A day later, police beat hundreds of protesters to disperse a protest in St Petersburg.
As he left jail, Kasparov said "the regime is entering a dangerous phase of becoming a dictatorship".
Putin says by choosing United Russia voters will opt for "stability and continuity" rather than the chaos of the 1990s.
He has accused Washington of trying to undermine the polls, said liberals were "slinking through foreign embassies" seeking funds and Russia needed to increase its defences to discourage others from "poking their snotty noses" in its affairs.
