MOSCOW, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Russia's election administration hold a drawing on Tuesday to distribute free TV and radio broadcasting between the presidential candidates in the month-long campaign that will start on Saturday.

    The First Channel, the Russia TV Company and the TV Center as well as the Mayak, Radio Russia and Voice of Russia will grant free time for advertising clips and TV debates before the March 2 poll.

    Each of the four registered candidates will get seven free hours of publicity period in the national media during the campaign from Feb. 2 to March 1, said Central Election Commission officials.

    The presidential hopeful, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, however, has refused to take part in TV debates, saying he will continue his daily job.

    The other candidates include Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, head of the Russian Liberal-Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Chairman of the Russian Democratic Party Andrei Bogdanov.