Sergey Sobyanin is likely to win a third term in office with more than three quarters of the vote

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin is on track to win a third term in office with more than three quarters of the vote, according to preliminary election results published by Russia's RIA news outlet on Sunday.

As of Sunday night, Sobyanin was leading with 76.6% of the vote, ahead of Communist Party candidate Leonid Zyuganov with 7.7%. The right-wing Boris Chernyshov, centrist Vladislav Davankov, and conservative Dmitry Gusev were all trailing with less than 5% of the vote.

A member of President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, Sobyanin was appointed mayor of Moscow by then-President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010. He put his mayoralty to a vote in 2013 and won, and then earned a second term in 2018.

Sobyanin has invested heavily in expanding Moscow's public transport system, but has been criticized for allowing the demolition of historic buildings in favor of new construction projects. He won plaudits from environmentalists for shutting down two waste incineration facilities, and from voters for increasing social welfare spending.

Days before the election, city officials opened five new Metro stations, including the sleek, aviation-themed Pykhtino.

According to the Moscow City Election Commission, more than 3.2 million residents of the capital took part in the elections, a turnout of approximately 50%. Muscovites could vote online from Friday onwards, and around two million votes were cast this way, the commission stated.

Outside Moscow, local elections were held in 21 Russian regions, including the former Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye, which voted to join the Russian Federation last September.

(RT.com)