RESOLUTE CHECHENS PROTECT VOTING OBSERVERS, CREDIBILITY.

Byline: The New York Times

In this village of 7,000 people in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya, two Western election observers sat stiffly in the unexpectedly opulent house of their host, Suliman Akmatov, a businessman who is chairman of the local election commission.

They smiled uneasily at their election-eve entourage: the chief of police, his deputy, four other armed guards and several armed and fierce-looking well-wishers waiting to accompany them on their rounds.

``As long as they are in my house and in my custody, I know nothing bad will happen to them,'' Akmatov said about the election observers. ``We are not letting anything with these elections go wrong.''

After 21 months of brutal war with Russia, Chechens have been busily readying themselves and their scorched and devastated republic for presidential and parliamentary elections on Monday.

They have invited more than 100 foreign observers, most from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to monitor the voting. They have promised to protect the observers after six Red Cross aid workers were killed in their sleep last month.

They want the world, and particularly Russia, to recognize the election as fair. They see this as the first step in an inexorable march toward independence.

And that is precisely the Kremlin's worst fear. When Moscow withdrew its troops last month, it gave Chechnya back the de facto independence it declared when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. But in a peace deal signed last fall, the Kremlin insisted on leaving aside the question of Chechen sovereignty for five years. Chechens already take it for granted.

Russia, which now grudgingly says it will respect the choice of Chechen voters, also warns that independence is unthinkable.

But voters here do not have a choice between candidates who favor sovereignty and those who want to remain a part of Russia. All 13 presidential candidates favor independence.

The most moderate leading candidate, Prime Minister Aslan Maskhadov, has favored a gradual, negotiated approach to independence, unlike his more militant rival, Shamil Basayev. As the campaign drew to a close, even Maskhadov had begun talking in absolutist terms.

``The whole world, including Russia, will have to recognize that the elections are democratic and recognize the legitimate authority of this popularly elected president,'' he told reporters Sunday at his campaign headquarters just outside Grozny, the capital. ``We want to be recognized as a sovereign state.''