Medvedev wins presidential election : Russia's CEC head

Moscow, Mar 4 (UNI) Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) head Vladimir Churov today said Mr Dmitry Medvedev had won the presidential election with 70.28 per cent of the votes.

Mr Medvedev was followed by Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov with 17.72 per cent, ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky with 9.34 per cent and Democratic Party leader Andrei Bogdanov with 1.29 per cent of the votes, he said.

Announcing the final preliminary returns, the CEC head said at a press conference only two or three more protocols should be introduced in order to complete the vote count.

''This could change the figures by 10 -100 votes only,'' he said.

He said the voter turnout in Sunday's presidential election was 69.78 per cent and a total of 74,749,756 eligible voters took part in the election.

The final notification on the results will be issued on March 7, Mr Churov said.

Mr Medvedev's election was assured by support from incumbent President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin's tight control over the national media outlets.

Mr Medvedev, Russia's youngest leader for more than 100 years, will be officially sworn in on May 7.

He has vowed to work in ''effective tandem'' with Mr Putin, who will become the Prime Minister.

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