Opposition is critical of election

The Communist Party's candidate for the 2018 Russian presidential election, Pavel Grudinin, received 12 percent of the votes in Sunday’s election.

His travels throughout the country during the election campaign have left him with the impression that the Russian people wanted change because they do not have faith in the political system.

“It is also obvious that many people have two or three voting ballots. This has been particularly evident in Moscow,” he told international media.

The Movement for Defence of Voters' Rights "Golos" claims the election was rigged. One of its claims is that fake votes had been stuffed into the ballot boxes prior to the election. Golos also says that its members were denied entry to the polling stations.

Russian opposition member Aleksei Navalny was not allowed to run for the election. He had called for protest marches because he believed the Russian presidential election was a farce.

The election committee would not allow him to run for the election as he was serving a conditional sentence.

Provisional figures suggest that Vladimir Putin won some 77% of the votes.