russian presidential elections of 1991, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012

RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS OF 1991, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, AND

2012

By: Benedict S. Gombocz

Russian presidential election, 1991

Held in Russian SFSR on 12 June 1991; first presidential election in the nation’s history, following referendum on electing a president in March

Result was victory for Boris Yeltsin, who won 58.6% of the vote , and won over CPSU candidate Nikolai Ryzhkov

Yeltsin ran as an independent, but was supported by Democratic Russia

Russian presidential election, 1991 – Results

Presidential candidate: Boris Yeltsin Vice-presidential candidate: Alexander Rutskoy Party: None Votes: 45,552,041 Percent: 58.6

Presidential candidate: Nikolai Ryzhkov Vice-presidential candidate: Boris Gromov Party: Communist Party of the Soviet Union Votes: 13,395,335 Percent: 17.2

Presidential candidate: Vladimir Zhirinovsky Vice-presidential candidate: Andrey Zavidiya Party: Liberal Democratic Party Votes: 6,211,007 Percent: 8.0

Russian presidential election, 1991 – Results – cont.

Presidential candidate: Aman Tuleyev Vice-presidential candidate: Victor Bocharov Party: Communist Party of the Soviet Union Votes: 5,417,464 Percent: 7.0

Presidential candidate: Albert Makashov Vice-presidential candidate: Aleksei Sergeyev Party: Communist Party of the Soviet Union Votes: 2,969,511 Percent: 3.8

Presidential candidate: Vadim Bakatin Vice-presidential candidate: Ramazan Abdulatipov Party: Communist Party of the Soviet Union Votes: 2,719,757 Percent: 3.5


Against all Votes: 1,525,410 Percent: 2.0

Invalid/blank votes Votes: 1,716,757 Percent: -

Total Votes: 79,507,282 Percent: 100

Registered voters/turnout Votes: 106,484,518 Percent: 74.7


Held in Russia on 16 June 1996; second round was held 3 July

Result was victory for incumbent President Boris Yeltsin, who ran as independent and defeated opponent Gennady Zyuganov of Communist Party of the Russian Federation in run-off

Yeltsin won 54.4% of the vote; his inauguration ceremony was held on Friday 9 August

Russian presidential election, 1996 – Results – First roundCandidate:

Boris YeltsinParty: NoneVotes:

26,665,495Percent: 35.8

Candidate: Gennady Zyuganov

Party: Communist Party of the Russian Federation

Votes: 24,211,686 Percent: 32.5

Russian presidential election, 1996 – Results – Second round Candidate:

Boris Yeltsin Party: None Votes:

40,203,948 Percent: 54.4

Candidate: Gennady Zyuganov

Party: Communist Party of the Russian Federation

Votes: 30,102,288 Percent: 40.7


Held in Russia on 26 March 2000

Incumbent PM and acting President Vladimir Putin, who ascended to the presidency in the wake of Boris Yeltsin’s resignation on 31 December 1999, was seeking a four-year term

Putin won the elections in first round over Communist opponent Gennady Zyuganov


Candidate: Vladimir Putin Party: None Votes: 39,740,467 Percent: 53.4

Candidate: Gennady Zyuganov Party: Communist Party of

the Russian Federation Votes: 21,928,468 Percent: 29.5

Candidate: Grigory Yavlinsky Party: Yabloko Votes: 4,351,450 Percent: 5.9

Candidate: Aman Tuleyev Party: None Votes: 2,217,364 Percent: 3.0

Candidate: Vladimir Zhirinovsky Party: Liberal Democratic

Party of Russia Votes: 2,026,509 Percent: 2.7

Konstantin Titov Party: None (unofficially

aligned with Union of Right Forces)

Votes: 1,107,269 Percent: 1.5


Candidate: Ella Pamfilova Party: For Civic Dignity Votes: 758,967 Percent: 1.0

Candidate: Stanislav Govorukhin Party: None Votes: 328,723 Percent: 0.4

Candidate: Yury Skuratov Party: None Votes: 319,189 Percent: 0.4

Candidate: Alexey Podberezkin Party: Spiritual Heritage Votes: 98,177 Percent: 0.1

Candidate: Umar Dzhabrailov Party: None Votes: 78,498 Percent: 0.1


Invalid/blank votes Votes: 701,016 Percent: -




Held in Russia on 14 March 2004

Incumbent President Vladimir Putin was seeking another four-year term

Putin was re-elected with 71.9% of the vote, winning over Communist Party candidate Nikolay Kharitonov


Candidate: Vladimir Putin Party: None Votes: 49,558,328 Percent: 71.9

Candidate: Nikolay Kharitinov Party: Communist Party of the Russian Federation Votes: 9,514,554 Percent: 13.8

Candidate: Sergey Glazyev Party: None Votes: 2,850,610 Percent: 4.1

Candidate: Irina Khakamada Party: None Votes: 2,672,189 Percent: 3.9


Oleg Malyshkin Party: Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Votes: 1,405,326 Percent: 2.0

Sergey Mironov Party: Russian Party of Life Votes: 524,332 Percent: 0.8


Invalid/blank votes Votes: 578,847 Percent: -




Held on 2 March 2008; resulted in election of Dmitry Medvedev as third President of Russia

Medvedev’s candidacy was backed by incumbent President Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, Russian Ecological Party “The Greens”) and he won 71% of the vote, defeating candidates from Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and Democratic Party of Russia

The fairness of this election was disputed and official monitoring groups gave conflicting reports; some reported the election was free and fair and others reported that not every candidate had equal coverage from the media and that Kremlin opposition was not treated fairly

OSCE election monitoring group declined to monitor the election because of what it labeled “severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government”, a charge Russia fervidly dismissed


Candidate: Dmitry Medvedev Nominating parties: United Russia (was also supported by Agrarian Party, Fair Russia,

Russian Ecological Party – “The Greens” and Civilian Power, but was officially nominated by United Russia)

Votes: 52,530,712 Percent: 71.2

Candidate: Gennady Zyuganov Nominating parties: Communist Party of the Russian Federation Votes: 13,243,550 Percent: 18.0

Candidate: Vladimir Zhirinovsky Nominating parties: Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Votes: 6,988,510 Percent: 9.5

Candidate: Andrei Bogdanov Nominating parties: Democratic Party of Russia Votes: 968,344 Percent: 1.3

Invalid/blank ballots Votes: 1,105,533 Percent: -


Held on 4 March 2012 with five officially registered candidates: four representatives (each one from a party represented in State Duma) and one independent

This election was for the new and extended term of six years

At the United Russia Congress, held in Moscow on 24 September 2011, incumbent President Dmitry Medvedev offered incumbent PM and predecessor Vladimir Putin to reclaim the presidency, which Putin accepted, offering Medvedev in turn to stand on United Russia ticket in legislative election in December so Medvedev could be PM at the close of his presidential term

Putin gained 63.64 percent of the vote with nearly 100% of the votes counted; with this victory, he has received a third term in the Kremlin

Observers from Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe reported there were irregularities including ballot stuffing at nearly a third of the stations they monitored

Next presidential election will be in 2018


Candidate: Vladimir Putin Nominating parties: United Russia Votes: 45,513,001 Percent: 63.64

Candidate: Gennady Zyuganov Nominating parties: Communist Party of the Russian Federation Votes: 12,288,624 Percent: 17.18

Candidate: Mikhail Prokhorov Nominating parties: None Votes: 5,680,558 Percent: 7.94

Candidate: Vladimir Zhirinovsky Nominating parties: Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Votes: 4,448,959 Percent: 6.22


Sergey Mironov Party: A Just Russia Votes: 2,755,642 Percent: 3.85

Valid votes Votes: 70,686,784 Percent: 98.84

Invalid votes Votes: 833,191 Percent: 1.16

Total votes Votes: 71,519,975 Percent: 100.00


russian presidential elections of 1991, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012

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