Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly leading the presidential election with a staggering 87% of the votes, surpassing his 2018 triumph, according to an exit poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (RPORC) on Sunday.
Preliminary results place Putin ahead of his competitors, with Nikolay Kharitonov of the Communist Party trailing with 4.6%, Vladislav Davankov of the New People party with 4.2%, and Leonid Slutsky of the LDPR with 3.0%. The exit poll indicated 1.2% of invalid votes.
Preliminary turnout was 74.22%, data from the Central Election Commission showed on state television. This is the highest figure since Boris Yeltsin took office in 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and well above the 67.5% turnout recorded in 2018.
