"The elections for the president of the Russian Federation have taken place. Our candidate has a firm lead," said Putin, appearing with Medvedev at an election concert in Red Square after polling booths had closed.

Russian First Deputy Premier Dmitry Medvedev has so far garnered 67.70% of the vote with 45% of the ballots counted in Russia's presidential polls, according to the Central Election Commission.

Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov has reportedly received 18.72%, nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky - 10.91% and the leader of the tiny, pro-Western Democratic Party, Andrey Bogdanov - 1.39%.

"I congratulate Dmitry Medvedev and wish him luck," said Putin.

Putin also said that the vote had been carried in "strict accordance with the Constitution."

"I would like to thank everyone who voted for me, and also those who voted for other candidates," said Medvedev. "Together we represent almost two-thirds of our country."

'This means we are not indifferent to our future, this means we can continue the path proposed by Vladimir Putin," he went on.

"Together we will move further forward, together we will achieve victory!" he announced to the crowd.

The Central Election Commission said turnout was 64.23% as of 7:00 p.m. Moscow time. If results stay as they are, Medvedev will avoid a second round of voting.

Gennady Zyuganov and Vladimir Zhirinovsky announced they may contest the results of the poll in court, citing voting violations.

Many Western observers, including the OSCE's main election arm, chose to boycott the election over restrictions imposed by Russia. Moscow rejected claims that it had imposed restrictions on monitors however.

Critics also pointed to pressure on voters to cast their ballots, especially employees of state-run organizations.

A CIS election monitoring mission said the elections had been held in full accordance with the law. The CIS is an alliance of a number of former Soviet republics.

MOSCOW, March 2 (RIA Novosti)