Re-elected Putin pledges to focus on domestic agenda and national defense

Being elected for the next term, Vladimir Putin pledges to focus on issues of the country’s domestic policy and national defense capability. 

"Key things we will focus on are issues of the domestic agenda: first of all, measures to encourage Russia’s economic growth, giving it an impetus of innovation, to develop the healthcare sector, education, industrial production, infrastructure and other areas vital for further progress of the country and raising the living standards," he said at a meeting with co-chairs of his election headquarters. "This is what we will pay major attention to", Putin said as he was elected with the vast majority on Sunday's elections 2018.

"There are questions linked with ensuring the country’s security, national defense capability," he noted adding, "These are essential matters too, but the most important thing for us is the domestic agenda."

According to the Russian Central Election Commission, with 99.84% of the ballots counted, Putin has garnered 76.66% of the vote. He has won more votes than he did in the 2012 election (63.6%) and beat his own record set in 2004 (71.31%).

The newly elected president thanked the Russian people for trusting him and promised to work as hard as before yet achieve better results.

The Russian news agency Tass reported that the director of the Lenin State Farm Pavel Grudinin, nominated by the Communist Party of Russia, came in second with 11.80%, while the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) Vladimir Zhirinovsky took the third place with 5.66%. TV personality and socialite Ksenia Sobchak (nominated by the Civil Initiative party) clinched 1.67% of the vote.

Next are head of the Yabloko Party’s federal political committee Grigory Yavlinsky (1.04%), chairman of the Party of Growth and Russian Presidential Envoy for Entrepreneurs’ Rights Boris Titov (0.76%), Maxim Suraikin, nominated by the Communists of Russia party (0.68%) and head of the Russian People’s Union party Sergei Baburin (0.65%).

At a meeting with members of his election team, Putin said that it was important "to pool the efforts of all people, no matter which candidate they voted for."

Putin said, "I am grateful to voters for the choice they made and the trust they have shown for their evaluation of the work done in the recent years and the hope they obviously have since they expect us - my expanded team and me, your humble servant - to work as hard as before yet achieve better results."

After the results proving Putin’s election win, he addressed a concert rally dubbed: Russia.Sevastopol.Crimea, that was taking place at Manezhnaya Square in downtown Moscow and thanked his supporters. "You are our team, and I am a member of your team. All who cast their ballots are in our big national team," the president said.

While addressing members of his election campaign team, Putin mentioned his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly, reiterating that the country needed to achieve a development breakthrough. "We can do that, we have achieved a level where it is possible to make a breakthrough," he stressed. "We must take advantage of this historic opportunity and our achievements in every field in order to do that. But of course, people need to understand what we will be doing," Putin indicated.

Peaceful Election

According to the CEC’s preliminary data, voter turnout has exceeded 67%.

Neither the CEC nor the Interior Ministry recorded any serious irregularities that could have influenced the election outcome. The Russian Presidential Human Rights Council’s election monitoring group did not record any serious irregularities, its chief Mikhail Fedotov said.

Overseas votes

Overseas voter turnout in the Russian presidential election was unprecedentedly high, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. Nonetheless, she stated that the West’s attempts at influencing the outcome of the Russian presidential vote were obvious and unprecedented.

"We focused on the information field as the West’s flak about our election was obvious and unprecedented," she said. "We expected they would be saying that the vote was non-transparent or something of the kind. So even at polling stations at embassies we focused on informational support," Zakharova added.

According to her, special attention was paid to arranging the vote in Syria. "There are currently our military servicemen and experts in Syria, so there was a need to provide them with a possibility to cast their ballots. An early voting took place there," the Russian diplomat said.