Russian presidential election, 2000

Russian presidential election, 2000

26 March 2000

Nominee Vladimir Putin Gennady Zyuganov Grigory Yavlinsky Party Independent Communist Party Yabloko Popular vote 39,740,467 21,928,468 4,351,450 Percentage 53.4% 29.5% 5.9%

President before election Boris Yeltsin Independent Elected President Vladimir Putin Independent

Presidential elections were held in Russia on 26 March 2000. Incumbent Prime Minister and acting President Vladimir Putin, who had succeeded Boris Yeltsin on his resignation on 31 December 1999, was seeking a four-year term in his own right and won the elections in the first round. Polling stations were opened from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Candidates

A total of 33 candidates were nominated; 15 submitted the application forms to the Central Electoral Committee, and ultimately 12 candidates were registered. One of them withdrew shortly before the deadline, so 11 candidates took part in the elections: Vladimir Putin, Gennady Zyuganov, Grigory Yavlinsky, Amangeldy Tuleyev, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Konstantin Titov, Ella Pamfilova, Stanislav Govorukhin, Yury Skuratov, Alexey Podberezkin, and Umar Dzhabrailov.

Campaign

Putin's campaign press service announced that he decided not to use the free radio and television time provided to all candidates and not to take part in TV debates. A number of other candidates explained this as a refusal to clarify his position on various controversial issues. However, during the campaign Putin excessively often appeared on TV screens as a newsmaker.

Conduct

The decision to conduct the presidential elections also in Chechnya was perceived as controversial by many observers due to the military campaign and security concerns. The legislative elections held on 19 December 1999 had been suspended in Chechnya for these reasons.

The PACE observers delegation concluded that "the unequal access to television was one of the main reasons for a degree of unfairness of the campaign" and that "independent media have come under increasing pressure and that media in general, be they State-owned or private, failed to a large extent to provide impartial information about the election campaign and candidates."

The PACE delegation also reported that the media got more and more dominated by politically influential owners. The TV channel ORT launched a slanderous campaign against Yavlinsky's image as his ratings started to rise sharply, and broadcasters generally nearly ignored candidates who did not fulfil interests of their owners. One of the main independent broadcasters, NTV, was subject to increasing financial and administrative pressure during the electoral campaign.

There were also many allegedly serious forgeries reported that could affect Putin's victory in the first round.

Results

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Vladimir Putin	Independent	39,740,467	53.4
Gennady Zyuganov	Communist Party	21,928,468	29.5
Grigory Yavlinsky	Yabloko	4,351,450	5.9
Aman Tuleyev	Independent	2,217,364	3.0
Vladimir Zhirinovsky	Liberal Democratic Party	2,026,509	2.7
Konstantin Titov	Independent	1,107,269	1.5
Ella Pamfilova	For Civic Dignity	758,967	1.0
Stanislav Govorukhin	Independent	328,723	0.4
Yury Skuratov	Independent	319,189	0.4
Alexey Podberezkin	Spiritual Heritage	98,177	0.1
Umar Dzhabrailov	Independent	78,498	0.1
Against all		1,414,673	1.9
Invalid/blank votes		701,016	–
Total		75,070,770	100
Registered voters/turnout		109,372,043	68.6
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, University of Essex

^a Titov was unofficially aligned with the Union of Rightist Forces.

Putin’s highest official result was in Ingushetia - 85.42%, his lowest achievement was in neighbouring Chechnya – 29.65%, Zyuganov’s results ranged from 47.41% in the Lipetsk region to 4.63% in Ingushetia, Yavlinsky’s results ranged from 18.56% in Moscow to 0.42% in Dagestan, Zhirinovsky’s results ranged from 6.13% in the Kamchatka region to 0.29% in Ingushetia.