Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, whom exit polls placed second after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the presidential elections Sunday, called the vote “unfair, dishonest and unworthy.”
Speaking at his campaign headquarters in Moscow after polling stations closed, Zyuganov said in remarks televised by state Rossiya 24 channel that instead of ensuring each of five presidential candidates get equal treatment, the “huge and corrupt government machinery… worked only for Putin.”
"We don't recognize these elections as legitimate," he said.
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.
