With final results due to be declared later Monday, Vladimir Putin appeared on course to be re-elected decisively in what one of his challengers described as a "filthy election."
Putin, who will serve another six-year-term bringing him just short of ruling Russia for as long as Communist dictator Joseph Stalin, didn't wait for the final tally and addressed supporters at a flag-waving anniversary rally off Moscow’s Red Square, marking Crimea's annexation by Russia four years ago.
Speaking from a stage to a cheering crowd, Putin said his victory was a recognition of what had been achieved in the past few years. "I see in this trust and hope, the hope of our people that we will work with the same intensity, with the same sense of responsibility and with even greater results," he added, before leading the crowd in a chant of "Russia, Russia!"
"Thank you for the fact that we have such a powerful, millions-strong team. Success awaits us."
Putin’s win over seven challengers will extend his time in office to nearly a quarter of a century, until 2024, by which time he will be 71 years-old. When asked by reporters if he will run again he laughed, saying, "What you are saying is a bit funny. Do you think that I will stay here until I'm 100 years old? No!" he said.
Russia’s Central Election Commission said Putin was on course to win 76.6 percent of the votes cast. Putin’s nearest rival, Communist candidate Pavel Grudinin, who was on course to secure 11.9 percent, told reporters Monday that the election was the "filthiest ever."
In his first reaction Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader barred from running, said he hadn't been able to contain his fury. "Now is the season of Lent. I took it upon myself never to get angry and not to raise my voice. Oh well, I'll try again next year," he tweeted.
There were reports of hundreds of ballot violations at polling stations across the country, which Russian election officials downplayed but said they were investigating. Ella Pamfilova, head of the election commission, said that there were no major violations during the vote, with only “minor and local complaints” received.
Asked by VOA what he thought about the poll’s conduct, a European Parliament election monitor responded: "I think the government achieved what it wanted."
Facing weak candidates — some likely encouraged to run by a Kremlin eager to give the election a veneer of competitiveness — Putin, who has held power since succeeding Boris Yeltsin in 1999, had always been guaranteed victory in an election timed to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the Russian annexation of Crimea.
Putin’s only credible challenger, blogger and activist Boris Navalny, was barred from running because of a fraud conviction he said was designed to exclude him from electoral politics. Navalny and his supporters said Sunday voters had been bussed in across Russia to the polls.
The deputy chairman of Russia’s Central Election Commission dismissed allegations of irregularities, tweeting: "There is not a single other country in the world that has the level of transparency that we are demonstrating today."
Nonetheless, activists posted videos online showing blatant violations. In a polling station in the republic of Sakha, an official is seen stuffing the ballot box, as genuine voters waited patiently in line to cast their votes. In Dagestan, an observer was beaten after refusing to stop filming ineligible voters. In another video, a young woman is seen stuffing a box while observers are distracted.
Some voters said they had been coerced into voting by factory bosses and had been told to photograph their ballot papers as evidence they had voted. Opposition monitors said they were finding stark differences in their turnout counts from the official ones, ranging from 12 to 25 percent in some towns and regions.
The big question as Russians headed to polling stations was: What percentage of the population would turn out to vote?
Kremlin officials clearly had been determined to produce an outsized vote for Putin as a demonstration of his legitimacy — and by lunchtime, seven hours before the polls closed, election officials projected the turnout would be 70 percent.
Putin, who will serve another six-year-term bringing him just short of ruling Russia for as long as Communist dictator Joseph Stalin, didn't wait for the final tally and addressed supporters at a flag-waving anniversary rally off Moscow’s Red Square, marking Crimea's annexation by Russia four years ago.
Speaking from a stage to a cheering crowd, Putin said his victory was a recognition of what had been achieved in the past few years. "I see in this trust and hope, the hope of our people that we will work with the same intensity, with the same sense of responsibility and with even greater results," he added, before leading the crowd in a chant of "Russia, Russia!"
"Thank you for the fact that we have such a powerful, millions-strong team. Success awaits us."
Putin’s win over seven challengers will extend his time in office to nearly a quarter of a century, until 2024, by which time he will be 71 years-old. When asked by reporters if he will run again he laughed, saying, "What you are saying is a bit funny. Do you think that I will stay here until I'm 100 years old? No!" he said.
Russia’s Central Election Commission said Putin was on course to win 76.6 percent of the votes cast. Putin’s nearest rival, Communist candidate Pavel Grudinin, who was on course to secure 11.9 percent, told reporters Monday that the election was the "filthiest ever."
In his first reaction Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader barred from running, said he hadn't been able to contain his fury. "Now is the season of Lent. I took it upon myself never to get angry and not to raise my voice. Oh well, I'll try again next year," he tweeted.
There were reports of hundreds of ballot violations at polling stations across the country, which Russian election officials downplayed but said they were investigating. Ella Pamfilova, head of the election commission, said that there were no major violations during the vote, with only “minor and local complaints” received.
Asked by VOA what he thought about the poll’s conduct, a European Parliament election monitor responded: "I think the government achieved what it wanted."
Facing weak candidates — some likely encouraged to run by a Kremlin eager to give the election a veneer of competitiveness — Putin, who has held power since succeeding Boris Yeltsin in 1999, had always been guaranteed victory in an election timed to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the Russian annexation of Crimea.
Putin’s only credible challenger, blogger and activist Boris Navalny, was barred from running because of a fraud conviction he said was designed to exclude him from electoral politics. Navalny and his supporters said Sunday voters had been bussed in across Russia to the polls.
The deputy chairman of Russia’s Central Election Commission dismissed allegations of irregularities, tweeting: "There is not a single other country in the world that has the level of transparency that we are demonstrating today."
Nonetheless, activists posted videos online showing blatant violations. In a polling station in the republic of Sakha, an official is seen stuffing the ballot box, as genuine voters waited patiently in line to cast their votes. In Dagestan, an observer was beaten after refusing to stop filming ineligible voters. In another video, a young woman is seen stuffing a box while observers are distracted.
Some voters said they had been coerced into voting by factory bosses and had been told to photograph their ballot papers as evidence they had voted. Opposition monitors said they were finding stark differences in their turnout counts from the official ones, ranging from 12 to 25 percent in some towns and regions.
The big question as Russians headed to polling stations was: What percentage of the population would turn out to vote?
Kremlin officials clearly had been determined to produce an outsized vote for Putin as a demonstration of his legitimacy — and by lunchtime, seven hours before the polls closed, election officials projected the turnout would be 70 percent.
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