Incumbent President Vladimir Putin is expected to win this year’s presidential election, with nearly 90% of the vote, Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has reported.
According to the CEC, nearly a quarter of the votes have been counted as of 21:00 Moscow time and Putin leading the race with 87.9%.
Exit polls earlier showed similar trends, with the head of state expected to win the election with 87.8%.
His opponent from the Communist Party, Nikolay Kharitonov, is expected to come in second with 4.7%, followed by Vladislav Davankov of the New People party (3.6%) and Leonid Slutsky of the Liberal Democrats (2.5%).
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.
