Russian president Vladimir Putin was expected to have won re-election by a landslide last night, in a vote which the Kremlin sought to portray as a celebration of democracy but which was marred by irregularities.

俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)已在昨晚结束的大选中当选连任。此次选举被克里姆林宫标榜为一场欢庆民主的活动，但实际上被违规行为蒙上阴影。

Mr Putin won with 73.9 per cent of the vote, according to an exit poll published by the Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM), one of the country’s two main Kremlin-backed pollsters.

根据克里姆林宫支持的俄罗斯两大民调机构之一“全俄民意研究中心”(VCIOM)发表的投票站出口民调结果，普京以73.9%的选票胜出。

Mr Putin’s apparent victory, widely expected as his increasingly authoritarian regime has neutralised opposition to his rule, puts him on course to rule Russia longer than anyone since Soviet-era dictator Josef Stalin.

普京的明显胜利是各方普遍预期的，因为他执掌的日益威权的政权已经扫清了对他的统治的反对。此次连任将使他成为自苏联时代独裁者约瑟夫•斯大林(Josef Stalin)以来统治俄罗斯最久的领导人。

The Central Election Commission said turnout was almost 60 per cent as of 6pm, three percentage points higher than in the last presidential election in 2012 at that time of the day.

中央选举委员会(Central Election Commission)表示，截至下午6时，投票率达到近60%，比2012年上届总统选举投票日的相同时间点高出3个百分点。

It remained unclear on Sunday night whether turnout would be close to 70 per cent, the goal the Kremlin had set itself in an attempt to transform the vote into a referendum on Mr Putin. Earlier in the day, turnout figures much higher than those in 2012 had come in from many regions in the Russian far east and Siberia. But that advantage had disappeared by the time the large cities in European Russia – the country’s most populous and least enthusiastic about Mr Putin – finished voting.

周日晚上，尚不清楚投票率是否接近克里姆林宫设定的70%的目标;官方企图将此次选举转化为对普京的全民公投。当日早些时候，俄罗斯远东和西伯利亚许多地区报告的投票数据远高于2012年水平。但是，等到俄罗斯欧洲部分的大城市——该国人口最多、对普京拥护程度最低的地区——完成投票时，这一优势已经消失。

While voting in Moscow was relatively clean, according to a non-governmental monitoring centre, independent observers reported widespread irregularities in some other regions.

虽然据一个非政府监测中心报告，莫斯科的投票相对规范，但独立观察员报告称，其他一些地区广泛存在违规行为。

Especially in some remote Siberian territories and ethnic republics in the Urals, the Volga region and the Caucasus which are run by more authoritarian leaders, regional authorities responded to massive administrative pressure to get the vote out.

特别是在一些偏远的西伯利亚地区以及乌拉尔、伏尔加地区和高加索地区由比较威权的领导人执掌的少数民族共和国，地方当局受到巨大的行政压力，要求他们确保较高的投票率。

Golos, the country’s most experienced independent election monitor, said the rights of election observers had been violated in many parts of the country. It also warned that new rules on voting had been abused by authorities.

俄罗斯经验最丰富的独立选举监督机构Golos表示，在国内许多地方，选举观察员的权利受到侵犯。它还警告称，新的投票规则已被当局滥用。

There were also several incidents of ballot stuffing. Twenty minutes before voting closed at polling station 0644 in Kaspiysk, a suburb of Makhachkala, the FT saw a young woman stuff the ballot box with a thick stack of papers. Several people unsuccessfully tried to block the FT’s view. The fifteen other people in the polling station claimed not to have seen the incident.

还发生了多起填塞选票事件。在俄罗斯达吉斯坦共和国首府马哈奇卡拉(Makhachkala)郊区卡斯皮斯克(Kaspiysk)，在0644号投票站关门20分钟前，英国《金融时报》记者看到一名年轻女子向投票箱里填塞一大堆纸，同时有几个人试图挡住记者的视线，但没有成功。投票站内的另外15个人声称没有看到这起事件。

Alexei Navalny, the opposition politician some see as Mr Putin’s most serious challenger, was barred from the race.

反对派政治人物阿列克谢•纳瓦尔尼(Alexei Navalny)被禁止参加竞选。一些人认为他是对普京最具威胁的挑战者。