Moscow, Dec 08: Russian President Vladimir Putin today hailed the sweep by pro-Kremlin parties in the weekend parliamentary polls as a victory for democracy but warned the winners against "undue euphoria". "The main lesson from the state Duma election is that yet another step has been made towards strengthening democracy in Russia," Putin said.
"For me it is absolutely clear that that these results reflect the real sympathies of the population, they reflect, what the people think and they reflect the realities of political life," he said addressing the cabinet meeting in the Kremlin.
According to preliminary returns announced by the chairman of the Central Election Commission after counting of almost 98 percent votes pro-Kremlin United Russia bagged 37.1 percent votes and is poised to have confident majority in the 450 strong state Duma (Lower House). Bureau Report