Putin garners 72% of vote among Russians in Israel

Russian citizens living in Israel voted overwhelmingly for President Vladimir Putin in Sunday’s elections, though at a slightly lower percentage than among their compatriots overall.

Some 72 percent of Israeli-Russians cast their ballot for the incumbent, compared to the 76% Putin garnered in the general election.

Journalist Ksenia Sobchak, who describes herself as partly Jewish, came in second in Israel with 1,611 votes, or 13%. In the general election, the political novice from the center-right Civic Initiative — the first female candidate in 14 years and the youngest candidate to run since 2004 — received less than 2%.

The runner-up, Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin, who overall garnered 11%, came in fourth, getting 660 votes, or 5.5%. In third place was Grigory Yavlinsky of the centrist Yabloko party, with 5.6%.

Overall, Yavlinsky, who is Jewish, only received 1%.

Some 12,000 Russian citizens living in Israel voted in 14 polling stations across the country. There are about 120,000 Israelis who are eligible to vote in the Russian election, but this week’s turnout marked the highest voter participating in Israel since 2000. In the 2012 election, some 10,500 ballots were cast in Israel.

— Raphael Ahren