Last update - 00:00 02/03/2008
Medvedev wins Russian presidential election with 70% of votes
By The Associated Press
Dmitry Medvedev has won 70.23 percent of the vote in Russia's presidential election with 99.45 percent of the ballots counted, giving him an easy first round victory, preliminary results showed on Monday.
Russia's Central Electoral Commission chief, Vladimir Churov, told reporters that Medvedev's nearest challenger, Communist Gennady Zyuganov, won 17.76 percent of the votes.
Vladimir Putin congratulated his favored successor Medvedev late Sunday, before all the ballots were counted, and said the win would guarantee the continuity of the course he has set for the
country in eight years at the helm.
"Our candidate, Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, has taken a firm lead," Putin said, appearing alongside his protege on an open-air concert stage in Red Square, outside the Kremlin, Sunday night.
"I'm congratulating Dmitry Anatolyevich and I wish him success," Putin said. "Such a victory carries a lot of obligations. This victory will serve as a guarantee that the course we have chosen, the successful course we have been following over the past eight years, will be continued."
Partial returns announced by electoral officials showed Medvedev cruising to victory with about one-third of votes counted.
Medvedev thanked voters and vowed to pursue Putin's policies.
"We will increase stability, improve the quality of life and move forward on the path we have chosen," Medvedev said. "We will be able to preserve the course of President Putin.
In nationally televised footage, Putin and Medvedev - smiling - strode
side-by-side across the cobblestones of Red Square to the stage, heads bare under wet snow as midnight approached.
The two have said they would rule in tandem, with Putin becoming prime
minister, the second highest post in Russia.