Villagers despair as Russia elects new leader

By Maria Golovnina

ANINO, Russia (Reuters) - Yevdokiya Andreyeva, one of 10 voters registered in a ramshackle, decaying village outside Moscow, was shocked to discover that her favorite candidate -- Vladimir Putin -- was not on the ballot list.

"I walked here all this way and you are saying I can't vote for Putin?" asked the 82-year-old as she stopped on a rutted dirt track outside a wooden hut doubling as a polling station.

When a passer-by, wrapped in layers against gusts of snow, explained that Putin's chosen successor -- Dmitry Medvedev -- was standing in for the incumbent, she nodded with satisfaction.

"Fine. It will be Medvedev then," she said, turning towards the hut, the Russian national flag flapping above the entrance.

Like Andreyeva, few among Russia's 109 million registered voters doubted that Medvedev, a 42-year-old former lawyer who enjoys Putin's endorsement, would win Sunday's vote by a big, Soviet-style margin.

Putin is barred by term limits from running again but many Russians credit him for eight years of economic growth which has transformed cities such Moscow into a mass of glitzy shops, smart cafes and costly sushi bars.

But in the nation's darkest, poverty-stricken corners -- such as Anino just outside the capital -- a lot of people feel disenchanted and abandoned, blaming the Kremlin for its failure to let some of the booming oil wealth trickle down to the poor.

"I am tired of living like this. I am tired of thinking that being able to afford food for my child is an achievement," said Alla Semyonova, a 66-year-old former oil geologist.