KRASNOYARSK, Russia -- Voters in Krasnoyarsk go to the polls Sunday to choose a successor to the late General Alexander Lebed as head of this vast resource-rich Siberian region at the end of a bitter campaign that has serious implications for Russia's richest companies.

Fourteen candidates are in the race to succeed Lebed, a populist former paratrooper general and one-time presidential hopeful who died in a helicopter crash in April.

Alexander USS, the speaker of the regional assembly, leads in the opinion polls with 25 percent of voting intentions, with three other candidates close behind; Governor of the Taymyr region, Alexander Khloponin, Krasnoyarsk Mayor Pyotr Pimashkov and Communist Sergei Glaziyev.

A second round run-off is likely to take place on September 22, with 50 percent of the vote required to win outright.

Alexei Lebed, the general's younger brother, who is governor of the neighboring region of Khakassiya, withdrew his candidacy last month to protest against a "very dirty" campaign which prompted 400 complaints to the electoral commission.

Evidently, he was not the only one to think so.

"This is the most fiercely contested election we have ever seen here," said a local journalist, Tatyana Popova.

The competition was fuelled by the area's huge mining resources, she added.

"Despite the economic crisis striking a region struggling with Russia's highest deficit and largest amount of back wages, many covet Krasnoyarsk's nickel and aluminum," Popova said.

These riches are controlled by two powerful local companies, Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest nickel producer which contributes 60 percent of Krasnoyark region's tax revenues, and Rusal, which accounts for 10 percent of the world aluminum market.

Each company has picked its candidate and, experts say, their impacts on the elections will be crucial.

Norilsk Nickel supports its former general manager Alexander Khloponin, 36, who presently heads a subdivision of Krasnoyarsk region, the Taymyr autonomous district, where the company's headquarters are based.

As for Rusal, it has endorsed 47-year-old former senator and bitter Lebed foe USS, who is also reported to enjoy the Kremlin's support.

but some analysts say Rusal's backing for USS may backfire on the local level, since it pays most of its taxes directly to Moscow, where it is incorporated, rather than in Krasnoyarsk.

And then there are the links between USS and highly controversial former aluminum tycoon Anatomy Bykov, who still enjoys tremendous popularity in the region despite his alleged ties to the mafia and an extended jail term.

Bykov supported Alexander Lebed's gubernatorial campaign in 1998 to run the huge Siberian territory, which stretches from close to the Mongolian border to the Arctic Ocean, before the two men had a spectacularly falling out over tax receipts.

At one stage, Lebed challenged Bykov to a boxing match. Bykov accepted, but the potentially-spectacular event was never held.

A few weeks after Lebed's death, Bykov walked free from jail after receiving a suspended sentence for allegedly plotting to murder a Krasnoyarsk business rival.

After initially mulling his own campaign run, Bykov put his money on USS.

Ever since, USS has run a brisk campaign, assuming the role of the local kid and warning voters about "Moscow Oligarchs," in a reference to his rival Khloponin's home city.

Another candidate enjoying high popularity ratings in the region is 54-year-old Krasnoyarsk Mayor Pyotr Pimashkov.

Not surprisingly, he has been hurt by a smear campaign in newspapers influenced by his old rival Bykov and controlled by Norilsk Nickel's main shareholder, the interros holding.

He now lags in third position, just a nose ahead of the local Communist Legislator Sergei Glazyev.