A "NATIONAL LEADER"
According to VTSIOM's calculations, that vote would give pro-Kremlin parties 348 seats in parliament -- far more than the 301 needed to change the constitution. This was something analysts say was a key Kremlin target in the election.
This could allow Putin to change the constitution to give himself a third straight term -- something he has ruled out -- or to enhance the power of whichever role he takes after he steps down.
Putin said before the election a big vote for his party would give him a "moral right" to mould policy after he leaves the presidency next year. But he has not said what role he will take or whom he favours to succeed him as presidency.
Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Uralsib investment bank in Moscow, said the results were "not spectacular but good enough to allow President Putin to call the shots after March".
"He now has the initiative in terms of what role he wants to stay on in", said Weafer. United Russia fell short of Putin's personal vote of 71.3 percent in the 2004 presidential election.
Even before polls closed, opposition parties cried foul, alleging that numerous instances of pressure on voters, a one-sided campaign and systematic electoral fraud undermined the legitimacy of the result.
"These are not isolated incidents. The complaints are from every corner of Russia," said Grigory Melkonyans of Golos, Russia's biggest independent election observer.
But Putin's popularity contributed to his party's strong showing. Russians credit him with overseeing an oil-fuelled economic boom and like his no-nonsense approach -- including a military build-up and verbal attacks on the West -- that has restored national pride.
In the Siberian village of Belovsky, local election officials brought a ballot box to the home of 94-year-old Sofia Kolesnikova because she was too frail to go out.
"My legs don't move, but my head works," she said. "Today I voted for Putin and for United Russia, because our president supports the young ... And what's more, as a man, how I like him!"
The West's main election monitoring body, the ODIHR, did not monitor Sunday's poll after a row with Moscow over delays in issuing visas for observers.
A reduced group of international observers was to give its verdict on the vote on Monday. A U.S. State Department spokesman said it would have no comment until official results are in.
