Russia's pollsters sure of Medvedev's victory in prez election

Moscow, Jan 31 (UNI) Several Russian pollsters have expressed a consensus that first Deputy Prime Minister and Kremlin-backed presidential candidate Dmitry Medvedev will win a guaranteed victory in the presidential election slated for March 2.

Three-quarters of Russians (74.8 per cent) will vote for Medvedev in March, Director of the Russian Public Opinion Study Centre (VTsIOM) Valery Fyodorov said at a press conference today.

Other presidential candidates significantly lag far behind Medvedev, pollsters said, forecasting a turnout of 70.7 per cent in the presidential election.

Pollsters said as of January 30 Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party can count on the support of 12.8 per cent of voters, ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Russian Liberal Democratic Party on 11.5 per cent and independent candidate Andrei Bogdanov of the Democratic Party 0.9 per cent.

The poll conducted by VTsIOM in late January found that 45.3 per cent of Russians will definitely turn out to vote, while another 40 per cent are likely to turn out, 4.9 per cent of respondents do not plan to vote and 4.6 per cent are unlikely to vote.

UNI XC ARB HS1803