In an interview published in \"Novaya gazeta\" No. 53, Moscow-based Chechen businessman Malik Saidullaev said that when he went to the Chechen Central Election Commission in Grozny to register as a candidate for the 29 August ballot to elect a successor to slain pro-Moscow Chechen leader Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov, he was surrounded in the government building by some 100 armed men and then threatened by Chechen State Council Chairman Taus Dzhabrailov that unless he withdrew \"voluntarily\" from the ballot, all possible measures would be undertaken to prevent him from participating. Saidullaev said that three days before he was informed last week of his disqualification, he received a telephone call from the election commission again asking him to withdraw, but he refused to do so. Saidullaev claimed that 200,000 fake ballots are being printed in Daghestan that will be cast in favor of Chechen Interior Minister Major General Alu Alkhanov, who is widely regarded as the Kremlin\'s chosen candidate to succeed Kadyrov. (RFE/RL)