Putin Claims Victory In Russia's Presidential Elections

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has claimed that he won the Presidential election with 64.61 percent of the votes polled, 98 percent of which were counted, reports said.

Addressing a rally of more than 70,000 supporters near the walls of the Kremlin, which is under tight security, a jubilant Putin said: "We won in an open and honest fight," but Opposition groups alleged widespread electoral fraud.

"I promised you we would win, and we won," said Putin choked with emotion and flanked by outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev.

The former KGB agent urged "everyone to unite around the interests of Russia."

Pre-poll reports that Putin will have to face a runoff against Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov were proved wrong, as the latter could manage to get only 17.07 percent votes so far.

None of the other presidential contenders gained more than ten percent as mining magnate Mikhail Prokhorov finishing third with 7.65 percent, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, getting 6.24 percent and Just Russia party leader Sergei Mironov receiving just 3.83 percent votes.

Zyuganov refused to congratulate his opponent, saying that he "cannot recognize these elections as fair, honest and worthy." But Putin's campaign chief Stanislav Govorukhin claimed that Sunday's poll was the "cleanest election in Russian history."

Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted Interior Ministry as acknowledging reports of violations. However, they had not been sufficient to impact the results.

Voter turnout at more than 95,000 polling stations across Russia's nine time zones was 64 percent, Central Election Commission chief Vladimir Churov told a press conference.

The mandate to rule for six years on his third Presidential term, despite his approval ratings sliding to an all-time low of 51 percent during the campaign and his ruling United Russia party suffering a major setback in disputed Parliamentary elections in December show that Putin is still considered as the most powerful political leader in Russia, having presided over a resurgent economy flush with revenue from oil and natural gas.

Putin had well in advance announced plans to swap positions with Medvedev after the Presidential polls, and on Friday repeated his intention to make his political protege the Prime Minister.