Initial results: Putin is the leader of the Presidential election in Russia

Vladimir Putin gained 58.3 percent of the vote at Sunday’s presidential elections in Russia, exit polls indicated, enough to hand him outright victory.

His nearest rival, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, took 17.7 percent, state pollster VTsIOM said.

As Ria Novosti writes no other candidate gained more than 10 percent.

If he results of the exit polls are confirmed, Putin, 59, will be inaugurated as new president in May and will serve for six years, not four as previously.

The elections took place to the backdrop of mass demonstrations that were triggered by allegations of vote fraud in favor of Putin’s United Russia party at December’s parliamentary polls.