Russia: government-backed Moscow mayoral candidate wins election

Sergei Sobyanin, the Kremlin-backed candidate, is thought to have won.

Sergei Sobyanin, the Kremlin-backed candidate in the election for mayor of Moscow, has won; results released by Russian election officials indicate. After nearly a complete vote count, Mr Sobyanin had secured 51.3% - just over the 50% threshold required to avoid a run-off. His main rival, opposition leader and activist against President Putin Alexei Navalny, received 27.3% of votes, according to the early figures. He has refused to recognize the results, saying they had been "deliberately falsified" and called for a second-round ballot. Alexei Navalny added that he believed he had won enough votes to force a run-off round, and that the ballot count had been marred by "many serious violations". The turn-out in the election is said to have been low, with officials estimating that just 32% of the cities population took part. In all, 6 candidates took place in the election race.