Putin wins Russian presidential election with 87.28% of the vote: Commission

Incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin won the presidential election with 87.28 percent of votes, according to official results announced by the Central Election Commission (CEC) on Thursday.

According to CEC Chair Ella Pamfilova, 76,277,708 voters cast their ballots for Putin and the voter turnout finally stood at 77.49 percent.

Outside of Russia, Pamfilova said Putin won majorities at polling places in the United States, Germany, Australia, Latvia, Estonia and Armenia. The CEC chief claimed 388,791 Russians voted in the election abroad.

Communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov came second with 4.31 percent of the vote, followed by New People party candidate Vladislav Davankov and nationalist Leonid Slutsky at 3.85 percent and 3.20 percent respectively. 

Putin thanked all Russians who voted in presidential election, which was held from March 15 to 17, in a televised address on Thursday after the official results were announced.

"Once again, I thank everyone who took part in the voting, regardless of who you gave your vote to," Putin was quoted as saying by Russia's TASS news agency.

The Russian president said the campaign was tense and had a lot riding on it, because "we were choosing the path Russia will follow going forward, choosing the future for ourselves and our children." 

At his campaign headquarters in Moscow on Monday, Putin said that he would do his best to achieve national development goals in all directions.

(With input from Xinhua)

(Cover: Voting results of candidates who ran in the Russian presidential elections are seen on a video screen during a meeting of the Commission of Russia's Central Election Commission in Moscow, Russia, March 21, 2024. /CFP)