Moscow ? President Vladimir Putin claimed victory early today after easily winning a second term with more than 69 percent of the vote, confirming widespread expectations of a commanding victory.

Assured in advance of victory, Putin was looking for a powerful turnout to strengthen his grip over Russia — already tightened by his appointment of a new Cabinet just before the vote and by December parliamentary elections that gave the main pro-Kremlin party full control over lawmaking.

According to preliminary data, 64.27 percent of voters nationwide had cast ballots, electoral officials said.

With 49.7 percent of precincts accounted for, Putin had 69.3 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission said. The partial results were backed up by an exit poll by the nongovernmental Public Opinion Foundation, which surveyed 120,000 voters at 1,200 polling stations and concluded Putin had won 69 percent.

“I promise you that for the next four years, I will work in the same mode,” Putin said.

Putin first thanked voters for turning out, then thanked those who supported him. He promised to ensure further economic growth, strengthen civil institutions and media freedom. “All the democratic achievements will be guaranteed,” he said.

Putin, who reined in Russia’s independent media after his first election in 2000, dominated the nationwide television networks before the vote. His five challengers received less coverage, adding to the widespread impression that the vote was a one-horse race.

“I voted for Putin because he is going to win anyway, and what is the point in voting for someone else?” said financial inspector Yelena Chebakova, 31, one of a handful of early voters at a Moscow polling station.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was concerned with a lack of openness in Russia’s presidential election and “a level of authoritarianism creeping back” into Russian society. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice also expressed concern.

Russian soldiers fill in presidential election ballots in Moscow. President Vladimir Putin was re-elected Sunday with an estimated 69 percent of the votes.

But Powell said he did not think Russia was reverting to the hard-line ways of the former Soviet Union.

“Russians have to understand that to have full democracy of the kind that the international community will recognize, you’ve got to let candidates have all access to the media that the president has,” Powell said on “Fox News Sunday.”