Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a rally to support his bid in the upcoming presidential election at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia March 3, 2018. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
- After a campaign without any serious political challengers to his hegemony, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been re-elected president of Russia for a fourth term.
- He will serve for at least another 6 years.
- Behind Putin, a Communist Party challenger took second place, a nationalist took third, and anti-Putin liberal and socialite Ksenia Sobchak took fourth.
MOSCOW (Reuters) – An exit poll showed Vladimir Putin won Russia’s presidential election held on Sunday with 73.9 percent of the vote.
The voting projection, by pollster VTsIOM, put Communist party challenger Pavel Grudinin in second place with 11.2 percent.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, head of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, was on 6.7 pct, and TV personality Ksenia Sobchak had 2.5 percent, the exit poll showed.
(Reporting by Denis Pinchuk, Andrew Osborn and Katya Golubkova, Writing by Maria Kiselyova, editing by Christian Lowe)