MOSCOW (Sputnik) – As many as 372,779 people cast a ballot in Russia’s presidential election abroad as of 8:30 Moscow time (05:30 GMT) on Monday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
«To date, as of 8:30 am Moscow time, according to preliminary data, 372,779 people took part in the election, but this is not final data,» Zakharova told the Channel One broadcaster.
The last polling stations abroad closed at 02:00 GMT on Monday, so there are no final numbers at the moment, the diplomat said.
Zakharova added that around 90% of ballots cast abroad had been processed, with incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of other candidates.
Putin is leading in the Russian presidential election as of Monday morning with 87.31% of the vote after processing 99.7% of ballots, data from the Russian Central Election Commission showed.