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3/2/08

AFP: Medvedev wins landslide in Russian election: early results

For the complete report from AFP click on this link

Medvedev wins landslide in Russian election: early results

Dmitry Medvedev, President Vladimir Putin's handpicked successor, won a landslide victory in Russia's presidential election Sunday, early results showed, as opponents charged the result was rigged. Medvedev -- a 42-year-old bureaucrat who says he will name Putin prime minister -- had 66.5 percent of the vote, according to the early figures. Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov was in second place with 19 percent, the Central Elections Commission said after counting ballots from a third of polling stations. Nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky got 11.7 percent and the almost unknown Andrei Bogdanov 1.46 percent. Exit polls also predicted a crushing Medvedev victory.

Independent observers highlighted a stream of violations, however, saying the media was censored, people were pressured to vote, absentee ballots were abused, and monitors were refused access to polling stations.

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