[Brian Nelson, Cnn Anchor:] Well, the ballots are being counted in Russia's presidential election and acting President Vladimir Putin is in the lead. But the key development is that Mr. Putin is well short of the vote needed to avoid a run-off election with the runner-up. And CNN's Mike Hanna now joins us with the latest from Moscow. Hi, Mike.
[Mike Hanna, Cnn Correspondent:] Hello, Brian. Well, it's tantalizingly close at the moment. The results that we have received so far with some one-fifth of the vote returned from throughout to Russia indicates that Mr. Putin has in the top 40s, still underneath that 50 percent that he needs to secure an absolute majority. But the votes being counted in the regions at the moment mainly coming from the Far East and Siberia. These figures generally tilted toward the Communist Party, which at the moment is making a surprisingly strong showing. That is Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party: Mr. Zyuganov with some 30 percent of the vote at this particular stage. So certainly the figures at the moment indicating that Mr. Putin is going to struggle to get that 50 percent margin. However, it is still too easy to tell at this stage exactly which way this is going, whether he will possibly face the second round of votes. We need to start getting the votes from Russia industrial heartland and the Urals. We also need to start getting the votes from the big cities like St. Petersburg, and of course, Russia's largest city, Moscow. Preliminary results incidentally from some of the big cities like St. Petersburg show that Mr. Putin has some 60 percent of the votes. Nizhni Novgorod, the third-largest city in Russia, shows that he has around 58 percent of the vote. So certainly once we start getting in these figures, it will become a much clearer picture. But at the moment, Brian, it is far too close to call exactly where we are.
[Nelson:] Mike, how long do you think it will take to either get some sort of a clear decision or to count all the votes?
[Hanna:] Well, at the moment, we are starting to get the polls coming in. Now I'm just told we have some 40 percent of the vote counted. The figures we're looking at the moment, a big increase here: Mr. Putin now up at 49.52 percent of the vote counted. Gennady Zyuganov is staying static at that 30 percent. What we are seeing now is that industrial heartland coming in, some of the big cities. This is now the big change that we are seeing. Moving up that percentage point, now just below the 50 percent margin. With the figures as they are at the moment, it does appear as though Mr. Putin may just tip the scale. But we need just a little bit more details from the heartlands to know. That will come, well, within the next hour, certainly within in the next two hours, Brian.
[Nelson:] Thank you. CNN's Mike Hanna reporting to us from Moscow, and we're expecting to hear from President Putin, if he becomes president, with a statement shortly after the announcement. Search CNN.com CNNSI.com CNNmoney.com The Web