We have won in open and honest battle, says Vladimir Putin

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Russian leader Vladimir Putin was on course to win Sunday's presidential election with 63.42 per cent of the vote, according to results with 30 per cent of polling stations reporting.

An excited Putin, addressing a rally outside Kremliln walls, said, "'We have won in open and honest battle." Current President Medvedev was also with him.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov was trailing with 17.25 per cent, and tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov was third with 7.29 per cent. Populist Vladimir Zhirinovsky had 7.19 per cent while the former upper house speaker Sergei Mironov polled 3.72 per cent.

Meanwhile, opposition politicians and observers cast doubt on the legitimacy of the vote.

Election officials denied any significant fraud in presidential polls where Putin gained around 60 percent of the vote according to exit polls and initial results but opposition leaders claimed widespread violations.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov called the vote "crooked, absolutely unfair and unworthy," while a senior leader of the protest movement, Vladimir Ryzhkov, said "these elections cannot be considered legitimate in any way."

Observers and media used the Internet to post multiple evidence of apparent violations, while the head of the Central Electoral Commission dismissed allegations of foul play.

Election chief Vladimir Churov said in televised remarks that observers were overly "nervous" at the polling stations he visited, while the organisers were "working perfectly."

Following December's fraud-tainted parliamentary elections, a record number of more than 27,000 observers monitored the vote at polling stations, according to Control2012.ru, an umbrella website coordinating their efforts.