President Boris Yeltsin and St Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak look like they are smiling all the way to the ballot box.
The battle for the Kremlin is being fought in the regions and St Petersburg is in the middle of the fray.
The battle over who will control the country involves a complex web of networks between federal and local authorities, commercial structures and the mass media.
As the presidential campaign gets underway in earnest, one of the most important factors that will decide the outcome will be the support of local leaders.
Many regional elites, including St Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak have thrown their lot in with President Boris Yeltsin.
Such support, however, may be contrary to Russian law.
In the month's prior to last December's State Duma elections, billboards supporting Victor Chernomyrdin's pro-government party Our Home Russia seemed to be omnipresent on St Petersburg's streets.
On December 17, Our Home Russia performed considerably better in St Petersburg than in the country as a whole.
Mr Sobchak at that time made his support for the party clear. He even indicated he would like to see Mr Chernomyrdin become Russia's second president.
When President Boris Yeltsin decided to seek a second term and the prime minister declined to run, Mr Sobchak eventually (and some say reluctantly) pledged his support for Mr Yeltsin.
Meanwhile, the St Petersburg Mayor's office had been locked in a battle with the president over the timing of the city's gubernatorial elections (the title of mayor will be changed to governor after Mr Sobchak's term expires).
Mr Sobchak wanted the elections for St Petersburg's top job to take place concomitant with the presidential poll on June 16. Mr Yeltsin did not want local elections to take place on or before that date and issued a decree to that effect.
Eventually, a compromise was reached, setting the date for the elections as May 19, a decision that clearly benefits Mr Sobchak's re-election bid as such a short campaign can only help the incumbent.
Whether a quid pro quo -- early elections in exchange for the mayor's support -- was reached between Messrs Sobchak and Yeltsin is unknown, what is clear is that both are currently under challenge.
Mr Sobchak's support for the president is being legally challenged by Igor Artyemev, a candidate for Mr Sobchak's job, and by the local branch of the political party Yabloko.
Yabloko is also challenging the validity of the city's electoral law, claiming that a quorum was not present in the Legislative Assembly when the law was passed.
On April 2, Mr Artyemev asked the prosecutor's office to examine the mayor's support for Mr Yeltsin's re-election bid.
According to a Yabloko press release, Mr Artyemev's complaints based upon Article 23 of the federal law, "on the basic guarantees of the electoral rights of citizens of the Russian Federation."
This section of the law deals with electoral agitation. It clearly states that, "members of the electoral commission, state organs, executives of state organs, organs of local self administration and executives of organs of local self administration are forbidden from participating in electoral agitation."
The complaint alleges that Mr Sobchak's participation on the committee of a regional group supporting Mr Yeltsin's candidacy and his announcement on St Petersburg radio that he is supporting Mr Yeltsin are in violation of the law.
The complaint also cited First Deputy Mayor Vladimir Putin's comments in Sankt Peterburgskiye Vedomosti to the effect that the city administration "will do everything possible to help elect Boris Yeltsin to a second term."
This provision of the law, at first glance, appears odd from the perspective of other democratic states.
In the US, Senate Majority leader Robert Dole won the Republican nomination for president largely due to the support of Republican governors who undoubtably will be working for his campaign, directly or indirectly in the general election.
By the same token, Democratic governors will be working feverishly to help re-elect President Bill Clinton without breaking any law.
Despite the merits of the provision, the law was passed by both chambers of parliament and signed by Mr Yeltsin.
In this regard, Mr Artyemev's challenge is important. If the city prosecutor's office refuses to act on the complaint, it will severely damage the principle of the rule of law in the Russian Federation.
On the other hand, should a the complaint succeed, it would have implications far beyond St Petersburg.
Many local and regional leaders such as Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and Tatar President Mintimer Shaimiyev have thrown their weight behind Mr Yeltsin and others such as Nizhny Novgorod Governor Boris Nemtsov are considering doing so.
Should such support be prohibited the dynamics of the election could be significantly altered.
Two schools of thought currently exist on such issues. One suggests, in a Machiavellian way that the ends will justify the means. Given the strength of the Communists, it is suggested, it is necessary to do everything possible to prevent their returning to power.
On the other hand, many feel that to undermine constitutional practices and the rule of law in Russia's young democracy would set a precedent as dangerous as a Communist victory in June.
* Brian Whitmore is a visiting lecturer at St Petersburg University's Faculty of International Relations.