Moscow, Dec. 1 (Reuters): Students in Siberia, doctors on the Volga river, and office workers in Moscow say they are being threatened with disciplinary action if they do not vote in tomorrow’s parliamentary election.

Officials have denied there is a campaign to force people to vote and President Vladimir Putin, who is leading his United Russia party into the election, said this week it would be “honest, as transparent as possible and open”.

But Kremlin critics say reports of employers putting pressure on their staff to vote confirm their suspicion the vote will be skewed to ensure a big personal endorsement for Putin. Russian law states voting is voluntary.

Senior United Russia figures have billed the poll as a referendum in support of Putin. Analysts say the Kremlin wants a high turnout so it can present the result as a convincing vote of confidence in Putin.

Accounts collected by Reuters, and others posted on Internet blogs, suggest some employers are telling their staff to vote at work tomorrow where managers plan to check who has cast their ballot. An employee with a firm that rents space at Gorbushkin Dvor, a massive indoor market in Moscow, said an aide to one of the market’s managers told her boss to make sure his staff show up at work tomorrow.