Western Courier

Issue date: 3/3/08 Section: News

Dmitry Medvedev (right) and his wife cast their ballots in Russia's presidential election Sunday.

MOSCOW (AP) - Vladimir Putin's handpicked successor, Dmitry Medvedev, was cruising to an easy victory in Russia's presidential election Sunday, a result expected to give significant power to the outgoing president.

The Central Election Commission said that returns from 15 percent of Russia's electoral districts showed Medvedev with about 65 percent of the vote.

Some voters complained of pressure to cast ballots for Medvedev, and critics called the election a cynical stage show to ensure unbroken rule by Putin and his allies.

Sunday's vote came after a tightly controlled campaign and months of political maneuvering by Putin, who appeared determined to keep a strong hand on Russia's reins while maintaining the basic trappings of electoral democracy and leaving the constitution intact.

Medvedev is expected to formally take over as president in May, and Putin has agreed to be his prime minister.

Some in the West have welcomed Medvedev's reputation as a moderate after years of tense ties with Putin over his crackdown on domestic dissent, U.S. plans for a missile defense and Kosovo's independence, among other things.

"I'm in a good mood. Spring is here," Medvedev said as he cast his ballot in Moscow, where rain and wet snow sprinkled slushy streets. "The season has changed."

Putin, smiling and relaxed as he went to vote, said he was in a "holiday" spirit and that his wife, Lyudmila, called the rain "a good sign" - a reference to an old Russian superstition.

Few international observers monitored the election, in which accounts of pressure will reinforce Western concerns of backtracking on democracy under Putin.

"The result doesn't matter as this is an illegitimate transfer of power," said former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, a Putin foe who was barred from the ballot.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, "These are free and democratic elections after a free and democratic campaign."

Some 450,000 police and troops deployed nationwide to ensure the voting proceeded calmly, although two bomb explosions targeted a police convoy near Chechnya, wounding several people.

Though he has never held elected office, Medvedev has had an easy ride toward the presidency. Polls predicted he would take a solid majority of votes against the three other candidates: Communist Gennady Zyuganov, flamboyant ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky and the little-known Andrei Bogdanov of the Democratic Party.

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