MOSCOW, March 5 (Xinhua): Mr. Putin Secures Victory in Presidential Election

MOSCOW, March 5 (Xinhua) — Russian presidential candidate and incumbent Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has won about 64 percent of the votes after over 95 percent of ballots was counted early on Monday, official figures from the Central Election Commission (CEC) showed. The latest official counts posted on the CEC website showed that Putin has kept the leading position with 64.28 percent of the votes, enough to avoid a second round, while none of the other four candidates have garnered more than 20 percent of the votes. Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov pocketed 17.14 percent of the votes, while independent candidate Mikhail Prokhorov gained 7.42 percent. About 6.25 percent of the votes went to Liberal Democratic leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky and 3.80 percent for A Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov. Some 64 percent of the 109 million eligible voters cast their ballots in the presidential election on Sunday. Earlier, the tearful Putin had declared victory after exit poll results showed he would win 58.3 percent of the votes.