Presidential elections have ended throughout Russia. Polling stations closed at 20:00 local time (21:00 Moscow time). According to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation, at 18:00 Moscow time, voter turnout in Russia was 56.3%.

Photo: RBC

According to preliminary data from the Central Election Commission, based on the results of counting 14.93% of ballots, Vladimir Putin is leading in the Russian presidential election with 61.81% of the votes. In second place, according to preliminary data, is Gennady Zyuganov. 17.8% of voters voted for him. The top three is completed by Mikhail Prokhorov with 7.55% of the votes. 8.01% of voters voted for Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Sergei Mironov – 3.67%.

According to the results of exit-polls conducted by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM), the country's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wins today's presidential elections in Russia with 58.3% of the votes. This VTsIOM data on V. Putin’s result is one percentage point lower than the data announced by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) based on the results of its exit-polls - 59.3% of the votes.

Five candidates are vying for the highest government position, four of them were nominated by parliamentary parties: Vladimir Zhirinovsky - from the LDPR, Gennady Zyuganov - from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Sergei Mironov - from A Just Russia and Vladimir Putin - from United Russia, as well as independent candidate Mikhail Prokhorov. Their names are listed in alphabetical order on the voting ballots.

To win the election in the first round, one of the candidates must receive more than 50% of the votes. Otherwise, a second round of voting is scheduled, in which the two candidates who received the largest number of votes participate. If on March 4 none of the candidates overcomes the 50% threshold, the second round of the presidential election will be held on March 25, 2012. There is no threshold for voter turnout in presidential elections.

The main difference between the current presidential elections and previous ones is that for the first time in Russian history, the president is elected for a six-year term, and not for four years, as before.

Another innovation in the presidential elections was video recording of the voting process and the vote counting procedure at most polling stations. Proposals to film the elections were made periodically throughout the 2000s, but the authorities did not respond to them. The position changed after the first protest rally of many thousands “For Fair Elections,” which took place in Moscow on December 10 following the results of the parliamentary elections. A few days later, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made a proposal to install web cameras at polling stations.

For the current elections, about 95% of all polling stations were equipped with such cameras. The exceptions were areas located in hard-to-reach areas, on ships and on the territory of secret military units, pre-trial detention centers and hospitals.

In addition, approximately a third of Russian polling stations installed transparent ballot boxes. According to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation, about 36% of polling stations are equipped with them. 311 polling stations in Russia and 22 abroad are equipped with electronic voting systems (EVS). About 6 thousand polling stations are equipped with ballot processing complexes (POIB).

Presidential elections have ended in Russia