Putin wins the Russian presidential election by a landslide, getting about 88 percent of the vote
As the counting of votes in the Russian presidential election is underway, preliminary results show that Vladimir Putin has won by a landslide, getting about 88 percent of all votes to run for another six-year term in power.
Preliminary results released on Sunday by Russia's Election Commission show that Putin has won 87.8 percent of the vote, with 60 percent of the votes counted. This is expected to be the biggest victory ever witnessed in the history of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The remaining candidates have not even managed to get more than 5 percent of the vote. The Communist Party candidate Nikolai Kharitonov won second place with 4 percent of the vote.
The eighth presidential election in Russia began on Friday and continued until Sunday. At a press conference early Monday morning at his campaign headquarters in Moscow, Putin thanked Russians who voted, saying the results of the presidential election will allow Russian society to unite and become stronger.
He added that his victory in the presidential election shows that Russians have faith in his leadership.
The former president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, has congratulated Putin on his victory in the country's presidential election.
"I congratulate Vladimir Putin on his great victory in the elections," Medvedev said on Telegram.
According to election officials, turnout across the country reached 74.22 percent, surpassing the 2018 levels when 67.5 percent turned out to vote.
Putin was first appointed acting president in 1999 when former Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned. He then won his first presidential election in March 2000 and a second term in 2004.
After two terms as president, Putin was appointed prime minister in 2008 to circumvent the constitutional ban on serving more than two consecutive terms as head of state.
But he returned to the presidency in 2012 and won a fourth term in 2018. In Russia, it was changed in 2020 to increase the terms of the presidency and on that basis Putin can remain as the president of Russia until 2036.
