First exit poll

The results of the presidential elections in Russia did not bring sensations: the candidate of the "party of power" Vladimir Putin, who has been leading the country in various capacities for the past 12 years, is gaining almost 60% of the vote in the presidential elections, his main rival, the leader of the Russian Communists, Gennady Zyuganov, scored less than 20%, testify to the results of exit-polls (polls at the exit from polling stations) and the first official data of the CEC, made public immediately after the end of voting.

Public policy debutant billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, according to exit-polls, unexpectedly won almost 10% of the vote, ahead of veteran presidential campaigner Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who received 8.5%. In addition, the leader of Just Russia, Sergei Mironov, performed unexpectedly poorly, who managed to gain about five percent compared to the 13.2% received by the Socialist-Revolutionaries in the State Duma elections three months ago.

According to the exit-poll of the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center, Putin won 58.3% of the vote, Zyuganov received 17.7%, Prokhorov - 9.2%, Zhirinovsky - 8.5%, Mironov - 4.8%. According to another poll , the Public Opinion Foundation, Putin received 59.3% of the vote, Zyuganov won 18.2%, Prokhorov 9.6%, Zhirinovsky 7.4%, Mironov 4.3%.

The CEC at 21.00 Moscow time began the publication of official data . According to the election commission, following the results of processing 15% of the ballots, Putin scored 61.8%, Zyuganov 17.9%, Zhirinovsky - 8.0%, Prokhorov - 7.6%, Mironov - 3.7%. The experience of previous election campaigns shows that there is no fundamental difference between exit-polls and final data.

Drama Campaign

The current presidential election campaign , which political scientists have dubbed the confrontation between Bolotnaya and Poklonnaya (the venue for mass protests by supporters of the opposition and the authorities), has become one of the most dramatic in the last 12 years. It was launched back in September last year, when Putin announced a planned reshuffle: he is running for the highest post in the country, and the current president Dmitry Medvedev, if he wins, will receive the post of prime minister.

The decision, called by opponents "an undemocratic transfer of power," made Putin the main target of criticism from opponents of the government during a series of protests that swept the country after the December 2011 Duma elections .

Several protests that began as campaigns for fair elections eventually turned into demonstrations under the slogan "Russia without Putin" - this was the unifying idea for the motley Russian opposition, which united nationalists, liberals, and communists.

Responding to criticism from opponents who accused the government of falsifying the Duma elections in favor of the United Russia party in power, in December Putin proposed equipping all polling stations with webcams, which broadcast the voting process on the Internet all day on March 4, and then the counting of votes.

As a result, the elections, which were held with a good turnout - at 18.00 Moscow time it exceeded 58% - according to the authorities, were held without massive violations, although the opposition and independent observers throughout the day drew attention to the facts of falsifications, stuffing and "carousels", as well as a large number of absentee ballots.

Putin's headquarters has already welcomed the results of the vote. "Thanks to the opponents for forcing us to spur our horses and win the race," Stanislav Govorukhin, head of Putin's campaign headquarters, said, adding that these were "the cleanest elections in Russia's history."

In his opinion, Prokhorov's third place is due to the fact that all the "bolotos" (opposition supporters who rallied on Bolotnaya Square) voted for this candidate.

Putin's current result is worse than the 2004 election figures - 71.3% - and Medvedev's results in 2008 - 70.3%, but better than his first election in 2000 - 52.9%.