Incumbent President Vladimir Putin is expected to win this year’s presidential election, with over 87% of the vote, Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has reported.
According to the CEC, more than 94% of the votes have been counted as of 3am Moscow time and Putin is leading the race with an estimated 87.3%.
His opponent from the Communist Party, Nikolay Kharitonov, is expected to come in second with 4.3%, followed by Vladislav Davankov of the New People party (3.9%) and Leonid Slutsky of the Liberal Democrats (3.2%).
Exit polls earlier showed similar trends, with the head of state expected to win the election with 87.8%. The exit survey was conducted among 466,324 voters at polling stations across the country.
This year’s election has clocked a historic high voter turnout, which topped 74%, according to data from the CEC.
The processing of ballots has already ended in several Russian regions. Putin has gained 94.12% of the votes in Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) and over 95% in Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), two of Russia’s new regions where citizens are voting for the first time.
The results from the Republics of Tyva, Khakassia and Yakutia, the regions of Zaporozhye, Kherson and Khabarovsk, and from Chukotka Autonomous Region also show the serving president leading the four candidates, with roughly 90% of the vote.
