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Medvedev's win is officially put at 70.28 per cent of the vote

Mar 4, 2008, 13:54 GMT

Moscow - Dmitry Medvedev won 70.28 per cent of the vote with all ballots counted, Russia's election commission said Tuesday, according to Interfax news agency. Provisional final results showed Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov had 17.72 per cent, ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky 9.34 per cent and independent candidate Andrei Bogdanov 1.29 per cent. Around 69.8 per cent of 109 million eligible voters went to Sunday's polls. Four years ago, turnout had been 64.4 per cent. Medvedev's final score was not quite as good as that achieved by his mentor, outgoing President Vladimir Putin on his re-election in 2004 when he won 71.3 per cent. However, Putin won only 52.9 per cent of the vote during his first election bid in 2000. Vladimir Churov, chairman of the Central Election Commission, rejected criticism by western politicians that Sunday's vote had not been fair or free. 'Nowhere else is there a more open and effective election procedure than in Russia,' Churov said in Moscow. Russia was the only nation in the world that counted votes so exactly, he added. It was meanwhile reported that more than 50 opposition demonstrators detained by police in Moscow for participating in an unauthorised rally are to be hit with fines. The demonstrators including Nikita Belykh, leader of the small free-market Union of Right Forces part were arrested Monday and released the same evening. Belykh and Lev Ponomaryov, a prominent human rights activist, were given a fine, Ponomaryov's daughter Yelena Lipzer, a solicitor, told Interfax news agency.

Europe News

Medvedev's win is officially put at 70.28 per cent of the vote

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