MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has called acting governor of Russia’s Far Eastern Primorsky Region Oleg Kozhemyako to congratulated him on a preliminary victory in Sunday’s rerun gubernatorial elections.

"He made a telephone call and congratulated on the victory," Medvedev’s press secretary Oleg Osipov told TASS.

According to the latest data, Kozhemyako is winning the rerun gubernatorial polls, with 60.87% of votes after counting 90.06% of ballots. He is followed by Andrei Andreichenko of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, who is winning 25.87% of the vote, Alexei Timchenko of the Party of Growth (5.28%), and Roza Chemeris of the Women of Russia party (3.85%).

Primorye elections

In September, Russia’s Central Election Commission called on the election commission of the Primorsky Region to recognize the gubernatorial race as invalid saying it is impossible to confirm the real results.

With 100% of the vote in the September 16 gubernatorial race’s runoff counted, Acting Governor Andrei Tarasenko, who represents the United Russia party, secured 49.55% (253,200 votes), while the Communist Party’s candidate Andrei Ishchenko gained 48.06% (245,550 votes). Both candidates filed dozens of complaints against violations during the election. Ishchenko complained of violations during the vote count, while Tarasenko’s headquarters accused Ishchenko of vote buying.

In late September, Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Oleg Kozhemyako, who headed the Sakhalin Region since 2015, as the region’s acting governor.