MOSCOW. July 29 (Interfax) - Vladimir Lenin is leading in a poll under the Name of Russia - Historical Choice 2008 project, leaving Josef Stalin nearly 60,000 votes behind.

Stalin, who had remained at the top of the chart for a long time was overtaken by the world's first cosmonaut Yury Gagarin, who has won almost 720,000 votes and is in second place, says the official website of the project, being run by the Rossiya television channel jointly with the Public Opinion Foundation.

Josef Stalin, who ranks third, has mustered nearly 700,000 votes and Lenin some 760,000.

The last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, who was in third place, has moved down to seventh place with 450,000 votes.

Nikita Khrushchev is fourth with 641,000 votes and composer and actor Vladimir Vysotsky is fifth.

In all, more than 6.5 million votes have been cast, the website says.

Meanwhile, Stalin, who had about 650,000 in the morning, is scoring votes rather quickly. The ranking of other personalities remains nearly the same.

The organizers said on July 18 that Josef Stalin's longtime leadership was due to spam.

Russia's main historical figure will be named at the end of the year.