MOSCOW (AP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin won a fourth presidential term with nearly 77 percent of the vote – his highest score ever and a massive mandate to pursue his nationalist, assertive policies for another six years in power.
Near-final results released Monday showed that the other seven candidates were far behind Putin in Sunday’s voting.
Observers reported widespread ballot stuffing and unprecedented pressure on Russians to vote, but that is unlikely to seriously damage Putin given his popularity and his tight control over Russian politics.
With 99.8 percent of the vote counted, the Central Election Commission said Monday that communist Pavel Grudinin came in a distant second with 11.8 percent. Third was ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky with 5.6 percent. The only candidate to openly criticize Putin during the campaign, liberal TV star Ksenia Sobchak, won just 1.6 percent.
Putin’s most serious rival, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was barred from the race.