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    March 03, 2012

Russians Expect Putin to Win Presidential Election

   VOA News
   A board with the profiles of various presidential candidates, amongst
   them Russia's current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is on display
   during the preparations for the upcoming presidential elections at a
   polling station in the southern Russian city of S
   Photo: REUTERS
   A board with the profiles of various presidential candidates, amongst
   them Russia's current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is on display
   during the preparations for the upcoming presidential elections at a
   polling station in the southern Russian city of Stavropol, March 3,
   2012.

   Russians head to the polls Sunday for a presidential election that is
   expected to return Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to the presidency,
   despite unprecedented protests against him and his ruling United Russia
   Party.
   The last independent public opinion poll ahead of the election
   conducted by the Levada Center - a Russian non-governmental research
   organization - says Putin is expected to avoid a runoff election with
   62 to 66 percent of the vote in Sunday's vote.
   Hundreds of thousands of Russians have taken to the streets across the
   country since Putin's United Russia Party won the country's
   parliamentary elections in December. Demonstrators claim the party won
   by ballot stuffing and vote rigging - charges the party denies.
   Recent polls show that 80 percent of Russians believe Putin will return
   to the presidency, and 57 percent believe he is still the nation's
   leader, even though Dmitry Medvedev is officially president. Putin
   served two terms as Russia's president, from 2000 to 2008.
   Polls open in Russia's far east at 2000 UTC Saturday, and close in
   western Kaliningrad 21 hours later at 1700 UTC Sunday.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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