Dmitry Medvedev, President Vladimir Putin's handpicked successor, is set to win a landslide victory in Russia's presidential elections.
Vladimir Putin congratulated Mr Medvedev on his projected victory at a Red Square rock concert.
‘We can preserve the path set by Vladimir Putin and we have every chance of doing that,’ said Mr Medvedev, who wore jeans and a leather jacket, as supporters cheered.
‘The elections have taken place. Our candidate Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev has a confident lead... the elections were in strict accordance with the constitution,’ said Mr Putin, to the concert where the Kremlin chief's favourite band, Lyube, played.
Mr Medvedev, a 42-year-old bureaucrat who says he will name Mr Putin as prime minister, had 66.5% of the vote, according to early figures.
Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov is in second place with 19%, the Central Elections Commission said after counting ballots from a third of polling stations.
Nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky got 11.7% and the almost unknown Andrei Bogdanov 1.46%.
Mr Medvedev's triumph was a foregone conclusion given his backing from Mr Putin, who has amassed huge powers in his eight-year presidency.
As prime minister, Mr Puitin is expected to retain a key role in leading the world's top energy exporter.
Incomplete official figures showed turnout hit a healthy 65% among the 109 million eligible voters.
Independent observers highlighted a stream of violations, saying the media was censored, people were pressured to vote, absentee ballots were abused, and monitors were refused access to polling stations.
Mr Zyuganov announced that he would appeal alleged violations in court.
But Mr Medvedev's campaign chief, Sergei Sobyanin, said the election showed that the results were not determined in advance, that there is a real choice.
Mr Medvedev, currently the first deputy premier and head of gas monopoly Gazprom, represents a new generation of post-Soviet politicians. Unlike Mr Putin he has no KGB or other security service background.
But analysts say that Mr Medvedev will make few dramatic changes and could end up being little more than a puppet figure.
