Russian President Vladimir Putin has won a fifth term with record voter support in the Russian presidential election held from Friday to Sunday.
He won 87.8 percent of the vote, the highest-ever result in Russia's post-Soviet history, according to an exit poll by pollster the Public Opinion Foundation. The Russian Public Opinion Research Centre put Putin at 87 percent.
Putin, speaking at his election campaign headquarters after the close of polls on Sunday, said that Russia must be “stronger and more effective.”
The 71-year-old thanked those who participated in the vote, calling them "one united family."
The United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom have said the vote was neither free nor fair, due to censorship and the imprisonment of political opponents.
Communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov finished second with just under 4 percent of the vote, newcomer Vladislav Davankov third, and ultra-nationalist Leonid Slutsky fourth.
