Президентские выборы в России 2000 года: приход Путина к власти

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Presidential elections were held in Russia on 26 March 2000. Incumbent prime minister and acting president Vladimir Putin, who had succeeded Boris Yeltsin after his resignation on 31 December 1999, was seeking a four year term in his own right and won the elections in the first round.

In spring 1998, Boris Yeltsin dismissed his long time head of government, Viktor Chernomyrdin, replacing him with Sergey Kirienko. Months later, in the wake of the August 1998 economic crisis in which the government defaulted on its debt and devalued the rouble simultaneously, Kirienko was replaced in favor of Yevgeny Primakov. In May 1999, Primakov was replaced with Sergei Stepashin. Then in August 1999, Vladimir Putin was named prime minister, making him the fifth in less than two years. Putin was not expected to last long in the role and was initially unknown and unpopular due to his ties to the Yeltsin government and state security. In the late summer and early fall of 1999, a wave of apartment bombings across Russia killed hundreds and injured thousands. The bombings, blamed on the Chechens, provided the opportunity for Putin to position himself as a strong and aggressive leader, capable of dealing with the Chechen threat. Yeltsin had become exceedingly unpopular. Yeltsin was increasingly concerned about the Skuratov, Mercata and Mabetex scandals that had prompted articles of impeachment. He narrowly survived impeachment in May 1999. In mid 1999, Yevgeny Primakov and Yuri Luzhkov were considered the frontrunners for the presidency. Primakov had suggested that he would be “freeing up jail cells for the economic criminals he planned to arrest.”

On December 19, 1999, the Kremlin's Unity Party finished second in the parliamentary elections with 23 percent; the Communist Party was first with 24 percent. The Duma had originally passed legislation scheduling the first round of the election for June 4, with a runoff scheduled for June 25 if necessitated. In early 2000 Unity and the Communist Party had developed an alliance in the Duma that effectively cut off Putin's rivals, Yevgeny Primakov, Grigory Yavlinsky, and Sergei Kiriyenko.

A new federal law, "On the election of the president of the Russian Federation" was passed in December 1999. It required that candidates gather a million signatures to be nominated (although the shortened election meant this was reduced to 500,000). The legislative elections held on 19 December 1999 had been suspended in Chechnya for these reasons. There were many alleged serious forgeries reported that could have affected Putin's victory in the first round.

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 fulfill interests of their owners. One of the main independent broadcasters, NTV, was subject to increasing financial and administrative pressure during the electoral campaign. State agencies pressured media outlets (especially television outlets) to avoid issuing negative reports on the Chechen War.

Polling stations were open from 8:00 a. m. to 8:00 p. m. Putin won on the first ballot with 53.4% of the vote. Putin's highest official result was 85.42% in Ingushetia, while his lowest achievement was 29.65% in neighboring Chechnya. 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.