Preliminary reports: Kirsan Ilyumzhinov won presidential elections in Kalmykia

By the preliminary data, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has won the presidential elections in Kalmykia (a republic in the south of Russia).

As vice-chairman of the republic's Election Commission Oleg Bembeyev told RIA Novosti by phone, after the count of 97.24 per cent of the ballot papers, 56.83 per cent of the voters voted for Ilyumzhinov, while 38.4 per cent voted for his rival, entrepreneur Baatr Shanjiyev.

All in all, 68.45 per cent of the voters registered in the republic went to the polling stations.

As the vice-chairman of the Election Commission of Kalmykia noted, so far the Election Commission has not received "any serious complaints" in the course of the poll and during the count of votes.