Putin to win Russia's presidential election

MOSCOW - Russia's presidential candidate Vladimir Putin would win 58.3 percent of votes in the Sunday election, exit poll results showed.

According to the poll conducted by the state-run pollster VTsIOM, Putin is expected to garner over 58 percent of votes, enough to avoid a second round.

The Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov would get 17.7 percent of votes, while businessman Mikhail Prokhorov would gain 9.2 percent.

About 8.5 percent of votes will go to Liberal Democratic leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky and 4.8 percent for A Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov.

The VTsIOM poll was conducted at 1,000 polling stations in 63 Russian regions.

Another poll carried out by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) showed Putin received support from 59.3 percent of voters.