Medvedev wins presidential election, all ballots counted

MOSCOW, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Dmitry Medvedev won 70.28 percent of the vote in Russia's fifth presidential election on Sunday, with all the ballots counted, the head of the Russian Central Elections Commission (CEC) said on Tuesday.

With all ballots counted, Medvedev obtained 70.28 percent of the vote, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov received 17.72 percent, Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky garnered 9.34 percent, and Democratic Party leader Andrei Bogdanov, 1.29 percent, CEC chief Vladimir Churov told a press conference in Moscow.

The voter turnout was 69.78 percent, he said.

Russia has about 109 million eligible voters. In some remote areas, voting started about two weeks ahead of Sunday's polling day.

Medvedev, 42, who serves as first deputy prime minister of incumbent President Vladimir Putin's cabinet, is thus to become Russia's youngest ever president-elect.

Medvedev, a lawyer by training and a close ally of Putin, has reiterated that he aims to continue Putin's policies.