Apart from the sound of a small chorus and the flapping of pigeon wings, the deserted Pushkin Square and Moscow city observed a chilly day of silence before Sunday's presidential election.

This is no surprise as Russian election law forbids media reports and activities on the day before the vote to help constituents calm down and decide.

What is unexpected is that the "day of silence" seems to have started three days ago, judging from the city's quiet.

In contrast, such venues like Pushkin Square and the Uakimanka Avenues were flooded with people holding banners either supporting the expected prime-minister-cum-president Putin or demanding a free and legal election just one week ago.

Where had the demonstrators gone? When I retraced the footsteps of the Dec 10, 2011 protest - the largest demonstration since 1990s - I didn't see a single demonstrator from the past days.

The route that day was apparently selected with political implications. It started from Octabrskaya metro station, which was named after the October Revolution that toppled an interim capitalist regime, and ended up in Bolotnaya Square, where political figures were executed publicly.

People on the streets told me why protesters had disappeared for now.

"They want their voices to be heard, but they are not necessarily exerting pressure for a restart of the whole election cycle," said 36-year-old Alexey Boursakov.

"Few protesters were really angry. The majority was protesting over issues that included inflation and unemployment at the same time."

Some told me the protest is no more than a desire to create a force that is just "new".

"They don't want the election to be uncompetitive or with a foreseeable winner. But at the same time, they never hoped it would develop into turmoil," said Pavil, 36, a security guard at a car park. "That's why I didn't join in."

"Had demonstrators taken to the street every day, then it would be a really big problem," the man concluded. "Russians currently are not disillusioned nor discontented with the election process to a level that can get uncontrollable or undermine stability, as Western media depicted."

(China Daily 03/04/2012 page4)