A Russian cossack prepares documents before voting in Rostov-on-Don on Sunday. Photo: abc.net.au

Russians went to polls on Sunday to elect a new president and incumbent Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who  is widely expected to win the election. The five candidates running for the top office of the country are incumbent Prime Minister Putin, leader of the Communist Party Gennady Zyuganov, Vladimir Zhirinovsky from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), Sergei Mironov from A Just Russia party and an independent candidate and billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.

Opinion polls show that most voters are expected to support 59-year-old Putin who had served two terms as president from 2000 to 2008. But he may be forced into a second round if he gets less than 50 percent of votes in the first round. Chairman of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Churov said: "There are more than 110 million Russian voters, 2 million of whom are working abroad. There are 400 overseas polling stations in more than 140 countries. Some 65 percent of the 109 million eligible voters are expected to cast their ballots in some 95,000 polling stations in Russian territory".