Введение
Президентские выборы в России состоялись 2 марта 2008 года и привели к избранию Дмитрия Медведева третьим президентом России. Медведев был избран на четырехлетний срок, его кандидатуру поддержали действующий президент Владимир Путин и пять политических партий ("Единая Россия", "Справедливая Россия", Аграрная партия, "Гражданская сила" и Российская экологическая партия "Зеленые"). Он получил 71% голосов, обойдя Геннадия Зюганова от Коммунистической партии Российской Федерации и Владимира Жириновского от Либерально-демократической партии России. Справедливость выборов оспаривалась, и официальные наблюдательные группы предоставляли противоречивые отчеты. Некоторые сообщали о свободных и честных выборах, в то время как другие отмечали неравное освещение кандидатов в СМИ и несправедливое отношение к оппозиции Кремлю. Наблюдательные группы выявили ряд других нарушений. Группа по наблюдению за выборами Организации по безопасности и сотрудничеству в Европе (ОБСЕ) отказалась осуществлять наблюдение за выборами из-за, как она заявила, серьезных ограничений, наложенных российским правительством на ее наблюдателей. Россия решительно отвергла это обвинение, назвав решение "неприемлемым". В 38 лет он стал самым молодым кандидатом в президенты России, рекорд, который он сохранил до 2018 года. 24 января 2008 года.
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Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
|Владимир Жириновский (61) Либерально-демократическая партия (кампания)|
|Депутат Государственной Думы (1993–2022), Лидер Либерально-демократической партии (1991–2022)|
|Жириновский баллотировался на пост президента трижды: в 1991, 1996 и 2000 годах. Его лучший результат – третье место с поддержкой 7,81%. Зарегистрирован в качестве кандидата 26 декабря. 26 декабря 2007 года.|
none
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
|Геннадий Зюганов (63) Коммунистическая партия (кампания)|
|Депутат Государственной Думы (с 1993 года по настоящее время), Лидер Коммунистической партии (с 1993 года по настоящее время)|
|Зюганов баллотировался на пост президента в 1996 году (когда ему не хватило всего нескольких процентов голосов) и в 2000 году, но не в 2004 году. Официально выдвинут 15 декабря 2007 года, 215 из 218 голосов – за. Зарегистрирован в качестве кандидата 26 декабря. 26 декабря 2007 года.|
none
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
|Дмитрий Медведев (42) "Единая Россия" (кампания)|
|Первый заместитель Председателя Правительства Российской Федерации (2005–2008), Начальник Администрации Президента (2003–2005)|
|Медведев был выдвинут партией "Единая Россия" и поддержан партиями "Справедливая Россия", Аграрной партией, "Зелеными" и "Гражданской силой". Кроме того, его поддержал действующий президент Владимир Путин. 21 января 2008 года.|
none
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
**Снятые кандидаты**
none
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
|Имя кандидата, возраст, политическая партия|Политические должности|Подробности|Дата регистрации|Дата снятия|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Борис Немцов (48) "Союз правых сил" (кампания)|Депутат Государственной Думы (1999–2003), Заместитель Председателя Правительства Российской Федерации (1997–1998), Министр топлива и энергетики Российской Федерации (1997), Губернатор Нижегородской области (1991–1997)|Немцов был выдвинут "Союзом правых сил" 18 декабря 2007 года и зарегистрирован в качестве кандидата 22 декабря. Он снял свою кандидатуру 26 декабря и призвал своих сторонников голосовать за Михаила Касьянова.|22 декабря 2007|26 декабря 2007|
none
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
**Кампания**
none
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
После назначения Медведева первым заместителем Председателя Правительства многие политические наблюдатели ожидали, что он будет выдвинут в качестве преемника Путина на президентских выборах 2008 года. Были и другие потенциальные кандидаты, такие как Сергей Иванов и Виктор Зубков, но 10 декабря 2007 года президент Путин объявил, что Медведев является его предпочтительным преемником. Четыре партии, поддерживающие Путина, также объявили Медведева своим кандидатом на пост президента – "Единая Россия", "Справедливая Россия", Аграрная партия России и "Гражданская сила". "Единая Россия" провела свой партийный съезд 17 декабря 2007 года, где тайным голосованием делегатов Медведев был официально утвержден в качестве кандидата на президентских выборах 2008 года. Он официально зарегистрировал свою кандидатуру в Центральной избирательной комиссии 20 декабря 2007 года и заявил, что уйдет с поста председателя "Газпрома", поскольку действующее законодательство не позволяло президенту занимать другую должность. Источники, близкие к "Газпрому" и Медведеву, сообщили газете "Ведомости", что Медведева может заменить Путин в "Газпроме". Его регистрация была официально признана действительной Центральной избирательной комиссией России 21 января 2008 года. В январе 2008 года Медведев начал свою предвыборную кампанию с посещений регионов. В своей первой речи после утверждения кандидатом Медведев объявил, что, став президентом, он назначит Владимира Путина на пост премьер-министра для возглавления российского правительства. Несмотря на конституционные ограничения, запрещающие третий подряд президентский срок, такая роль позволила бы Путину оставаться влиятельной фигурой в российской политике. Путин пообещал принять должность премьер-министра, если Медведев будет избран президентом. На предвыборных плакатах пара была изображена вместе со слоганом "Вместе победим". Во время предвыборных дебатов на телеканале "Звезда" 20 февраля Николай Гоца, представитель Богданова, обвинил Владимира Жириновского и его партию во лжи и предательстве своих сторонников. Он обвинил их в голосовании за правительственные инициативы, которые они критикуют в публичных выступлениях. Жириновский резко ответил, оскорбив Гоцу и назвав его "больным человеком, шизоидом", "ублюдком" и ударил его, когда камеры были выключены. Богданов и Гоца возбудили судебное дело против Жириновского. 28 февраля в другом дебате Богданов заявил, что у него был личный разговор с Жириновским, и что последний угрожал ему жизнью и потребовал отозвать иск.
none
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
**Социологические опросы**
none
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Согласно социологическим опросам, проведенным перед выборами, до 82% респондентов заявили, что проголосуют за Дмитрия Медведева, кандидата, одобренного Владимиром Путиным в качестве его предпочтительного преемника. Вторым по популярности кандидатом был Геннадий Зюганов, лидер Коммунистической партии Российской Федерации, который, как ожидалось, получит от 6% до 15% голосов. Опрос, проведенный Аналитическим центром Юрия Левады в сентябре после объявления Владимира Путина о том, что он возглавит список "Единой России" на парламентских выборах 2007 года, показал значительное преимущество Сергея Иванова и Дмитрия Медведева, с 34% и 30% голосов соответственно. Виктор Зубков и Сергей Глазьев получили всего по 4% голосов.
none
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
**Проведение**
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Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Организация по безопасности и сотрудничеству в Европе (ОБСЕ), выступая в качестве международного органа по стандартам выборов, отказалась осуществлять наблюдение за выборами из-за, как она заявила, серьезных ограничений, наложенных российским правительством на ее наблюдателей. После нескольких недель переговоров Россия согласилась увеличить количество наблюдателей для миссии БДИПЧ и продлить срок ее визита, но БДИПЧ заявила, что предложение все еще не соответствует ее требованиям, настаивая на том, чтобы отправить в Россию не менее 50 своих наблюдателей 15 февраля, за пять дней до даты, предложенной Москвой, чтобы эффективно контролировать ход предвыборной кампании. Россия ответила, настаивая на том, что она полностью соблюдает свои международные обязательства и что ее приглашение 400 наблюдателей соответствует международным стандартам. Она обвинила ОБСЕ в попытке политизировать спор и подозревала БДИПЧ в намерении бойкотировать выборы с самого начала, заявив, что БДИПЧ продемонстрировала "пренебрежение к основным этическим нормам, что, по-видимому, указывает на то, что БДИПЧ изначально даже не пыталась договориться о взаимоприемлемых условиях наблюдения". Михаил Камынин, представитель МИД России, заявил: "БДИПЧ категорически отвергло компромисс, не предоставив никаких четких объяснений своей позиции. Мы считаем такие действия неприемлемыми". Камынин добавил, что Москва "глубоко сожалеет" об отказе ОБСЕ, обвинив организацию, которая, по его словам, обычно отправляет 10-20 экспертов для наблюдения за предвыборными кампаниями за одну-две недели до...
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Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008, and resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev was elected for a four year term, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), received 71% of the vote, and defeated Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The fairness of the election was disputed, with official monitoring groups giving conflicting reports. Some reported that the election was free and fair, while others reported that not all candidates had equal media coverage and that the opposition to the Kremlin was treated unfairly. Monitoring groups found a number of other irregularities. The Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring group refused to monitor the election because of what it called "severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government", a charge Russia vehemently rejected, calling the decision "unacceptable". At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018. |24 January 2008
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)
|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–2022)Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party(1991–2022)
|Zhirinovky ran for the presidency on three prior occasions: in 1991, 1996 and 2000. His best result was third with 7.81% support. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|Deputy of the State Duma(1993–present)Leader of the Communist Party(1993–present)
|Zyuganov ran for president in 1996 (when he came short just a few percent of the votes) and 2000, but not in 2004. Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor. Registered as a candidate on December 26. |26 December 2007
|
| style="background:lavender;" |Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)|
| style="background color:;" |
|First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(2005–2008)Kremlin Chief of Staff'(2003–2005)
|Medvedev was nominated by the United Russia party, and supported by the parties A Just Russia, Agrarian Party, The Greens and Civilian Power. In addition he was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin. |21 January 2008
|}
Withdrawn candidates
Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration date Date of withdrawalBoris Nemtsov(48)Union of Right Forces(campaign)Deputy of the State Duma(1999–2003)Deputy Prime Minister of Russia(1997–1998)Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia(1997)Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast(1991–1997)Nemtsov was nominated by the Union of Rightist Forces on December 18, 2007 and was registered as a candidate on December 22. He withdrew his bid on December 26 and called on his supporters to vote for Mikhail Kasyanov instead. 22 December 2007 26 December 2007
Campaign
Following his appointment as First Deputy Prime Minister, many political observers expected Medvedev to be nominated as Putin's successor for the 2008 presidential elections. There were other potential candidates, such as Sergey Ivanov and Viktor Zubkov, but on December 10, 2007, President Putin announced that Medvedev was his preferred successor. Four parties supporting Putin also declared Medvedev to be their candidate to the post – United Russia, A Just Russia, Agrarian Party of Russia and Civilian Power. United Russia held its party congress on December 17, 2007, where by secret ballot of the delegates, Medvedev was officially endorsed as their candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He formally registered his candidacy with the Central Election Commission on December 20, 2007, and said he would step down as chairman of Gazprom, since under the current laws, the president was not permitted to hold another post. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions. In his first speech since he was endorsed, Medvedev announced that, as president, he would appoint Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister to head the Russian government. Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politics Putin pledged that he would accept the position of prime minister should Medvedev be elected president. Election posters portrayed the pair side by side with the slogan "Together we will win" ("Вместе победим"). During the pre election debates on the Star TV on February 20, Nikolai Gotsa, a representative of Bogdanov, accused Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his party of lying to and betraying their supporters. He accused them of voting in favor of government initiatives they criticize when in public. Zhirinovsky replied fiercely, insulting Gotsa and calling him a "sick man, a schizoid", "bastard", and punched him when they went off the cameras. Bogdanov and Gotsa launched a legal issue against Zhirinovsky. On February 28, in another debate, Bogdanov claimed he had a personal talk with Zhirinovsky, and that the latter had threatened his life and demanded to withdraw the issue. Opinion polls
According to opinion polls taken prior to the election, up to 82% of people said that they would vote for Dmitry Medvedev, the candidate endorsed by Vladimir Putin as his preferred successor. The second most popular candidate was Gennady Zuganov, Leader of the Communist Party of Russia, who was expected to receive between 6% and 15% of the vote. An opinion poll by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, taken in September after Vladimir Putin announced he would head the electoral list of United Russia in the 2007 parliamentary elections, showed a commanding lead for Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, with 34% and 30% of the vote respectively. Viktor Zubkov and Sergei Glazyev received only 4% of the vote each. Conduct
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its capacity as an international election standards watchdog, refused to monitor the election because of what it called severe restrictions on its observers by the Russian government. After weeks of negotiations, Russia agreed to increase the observer numbers for the ODIHR mission and extend the time frame for its visit, but the ODIHR claimed that the offer still didn't meet their requirements, insisting that it needed to send at least 50 of its observers to Russia on February 15, five days before the date proposed by Moscow, in order to effectively monitor the election campaign. Russia responded by insisting that it was complying fully with its international obligations and that its invitation for 400 monitors meets international standards. It accused the OSCE of attempting to politicize the dispute and that it suspected ODIHR's intention from the outset was to boycott the election, saying that the ODIHR had displayed "contempt for basic ethical norms which, it seems, indicates that ODIHR from the start was not even trying to agree on mutually acceptable conditions for monitoring." Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, said "The ODIHR flatly rejected a compromise without providing any clear explanations for its position. We believe such actions are unacceptable." Kamynin added that Moscow "deeply regretted" the OSCE refusal, accusing the organization, which he said generally sends 10 20 experts to observe election campaigns one or two weeks ahead of polls, of political bias against Russia. An incident arose during the election when three out of nine members of the Biysk Electoral Commission refused to sign the protocols citing widespread falsifications in their Priobsky Division. The rest of commission decided to approve the protocols as the alleged abuse was not reported during the election. The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair." The Commonwealth of Independent States observer mission said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation said the election was free, fair and in line with international standards. An observing group from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that the result of the election was a "reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was, unfortunately, not tapped". They said "In the elections, which had more the character of a plebiscite on the last eight years in this country, the people of Russia voted for the stability and continuity associated with the incumbent President and the candidate promoted by him. The President elect will have a solid mandate given to him by the majority of Russians." The head of Russia's electoral commission Vladimir Churov said that media coverage for the presidential election had been "fair but not equal". The Economist reported that Medvedev has been mentioned over six times more often than his three rivals in 1,000 different news sources, according to figures from SCAN, a media database owned by Interfax, but stated that this could be due to Medvedev's high profile job as chairman of the state owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. A report by the International Herald Tribune described Medvedev's election as "the culmination of Putin's efforts to consolidate control over the government, business and the news media since taking office eight years ago." Russian Novaya Gazeta'' claimed that there were forged election protocols and cases when independent observers were not allowed to monitor the election process. Journalist Victor Shenderovich claims that only 3.5% of voters came to the elections in certain North Caucasus regions according to independent observers, whereas the Central Election committee reports more than 90% turnaround.
Результаты
Медведева также поддержали Аграрная партия, «Справедливая Россия», Российская экологическая партия «Зеленые» и «Гражданская сила», но официально он был выдвинут кандидатом от партии «Единая Россия».
Medvedev was also endorsed by Agrarian Party, Fair Russia, Russian Ecological Party "The Greens" and Civilian Power, but was officially nominated as a United Russia candidate.
Результаты по субъектам федерации
Федеральный субъектМедведевЗюгановЖириновскийБогданов#%#%#%#%Адыгея151,44169.7746,68621.5115,0926.951,8610.86Алтайский край736,57860.35284,15923.28170,21413.9513,9301.14Алтайская Республика80,463 73.8217,20615.797,9378.201,1231.03Амурская область287,525 63.6279,32919.7663,97214.155,0661.12Архангельская область417,355 66.98116,98118.7772,47211.6310,4751.68Астраханская область380,35075.2887,34517.2929,2985.803,7800.75Башкортостан2,315,46788.01208,6797.9375,5002.8715,8590.60Белгородская область638,06868.96200,17021.6463,1236.828,8630.96Брянская область405,81961.82179,51027.3456,4098.596,5610.99Бурятия342,73670.8489,31518.4640,1108.295,0071.03Чечня474,77888.7011,7232.1943,6178.154,5330.85Челябинская область1,214,02865.63374,06620.22209,10611.3028,4431.54Чукотский автономный округ26,18081.412,3067.172,8258.784031.25Чувашия466,17066.48158,27022.5756,0217.997,0641.01Дагестан1,190,97491.9293,8737.246,3510.491,9750.15Ингушетия140,44291.662,2581.4710,2576.691650.11Ивановская область302,96364.9294,04920.1557,26312.276,8771.47Иркутская область738,79361.24263,21721.82169,50714.0519,8541.65Еврейская автономная область61,58767.3918,17019.889,1029.961,0481.15Калининградская область269,25762.09100,66723.2150,59911.676,9971.61Кабардино-Балкария421,55188.8041,0758.6510,7872.277570.16Калмыкия102,40771.5631,90822.305,9264.141,3800.96Калужская область352,44665.54117,31821.8253,2359.907,4941.39Камчатский край106,08569.3922,67914.8319,74812.922,3091.51Карачаево-Черкесия252,19790.3522,1047.923,5811.285230.19Карелия211,67067.2554,39817.2839,42012.525,4741.74Кемеровская область1,212,87370.51145,4018.45258,54715.0347,3042.75Хабаровский край499,29164.12141,19118.13110,30614.1715,7562.02Ханты-Мансийский автономный округ528,49966.68114,77914.48126,23515.9312,7141.60Хакасия147,20860.4755,46922.7933,75013.863,6141.47Кировская область608,71376.29112,99114.1657,8797.257,8300.98Коми Республика385,44771.7479,45114.7959,60111.096,7701.26Костромская область226,36162.4482,38022.7245,71312.614,6931.29Краснодарский край2,332,58175.06522,72516.82185,6835.9725,7710.83Красноярский край814,84262.47268,93820.62183,47614.0718,8811.14Курганская область319,48264.93101,56920.6452,14712.635,1491.05Курская область407,23264.27138,25621.8274,19211.716,4471.02Ленинградская область556,25070.19142,09817.9374,6620.4210,6511.34Липецкая область482,21065.84159,57521.7870,13021.798,9521.22Магаданская область53,87063.0717,16820.1011,84113.861,3041.53Марий Эл329,25777.2261,49714.4226,6436.254,1530.97Мордовия551,38290.3141,4736.7912,8142.101,5410.25Московская область2,654,10870.41678,74618.01320,2438.5054,5251.45Москва3,285,99071.52756,93616.48347,3297.5693,7142.04Мурманская область302,75765.2684,63818.2462,02913.378,4061.81Ненецкий автономный округ14,61461.544,25717.924,05417.074401.85Нижегородская область1,133,12461.84438,28223.92209,80111.4527,0961.48Северная Осетия - Алания259,91073.3569,18919.5316,3504.612,0070.57Новгородская область210,14565.8164,45920.1836,81311.534,5191.42Новосибирская область823,20161.90326,59124.56143,60610.8019,4791.46Омская область803,18763.04278,54021.86154,31812.1119,3431.52Оренбургская область626,85060.81271,12626.30111,29010.8011,2591.09Орловская область331,46766.38113,67022.7640,6148.134,6900.94Пензенская область331,46771.40158,86219.0454,2096.507,6010.91Пермский край790,26867.30196,12416.70155,39113.2317,7521.51Приморский край620,96863.84191,40119.68129,20513.2815,5261.60Псковская область280,08570.1681,14420.3230,1977.563,6180.91Ростовская область1,772,59576.94351,88915.27141,3536.1419,6850.85Рязанская область364,46060.82145,20724.2372,12312.048,6531.44Санкт-Петербург1,652,52972.27383,49516.77167,8687.3442,5551.86Саха (Якутия)302,06067.7891,50320.5337,7438.477,7011.73Самарская область933,60564.08329,68122.63157,23710.7918,6291.28Саратовская область1,110,00475.62237,55316.2591,0946.2112,0550.82Сахалинская область141,31563.5247,30021.2627,23512.243,7611.69Свердловская область1,432,01068.98273,62913.18302,88714.5934,5881.67Смоленская область319,84259.26132,42724.5471,81713.317,4971.39Ставропольский край827,51764.79295,81323.16127,0039.9413,2971.04Тамбовская область483,11772.51128,76519.3335,8775.385,1040.77Татарстан1,867,92179.24304,78912.93130,8205.5528,9751.23Томская область297,04864.1288,74419.1661,32213.248,9331.93Тульская область585,95867.80177,13320.4977,3828.9510,1401.17Тува118,09189.327,6385.784,1743.167720.58Тверская область519,38067.57147,43419.1883,23410.839,9111.29Тюменская область676,84878.8880,8859.4380,9959.4410,0631.17Удмуртская Республика551,02670.46126,53716.1884,52710.8110,9131.40Ульяновская область443,11566.93141,32621.3560,6909.178,0591.22Владимирская область433,58564.05147,83321.8478,08411.539,5571.41Волгоградская область743,77562.27289,61324.25135,79311.3713,2351.11Вологодская область451,22068.54105,31916.0284,55412.869,6221.46Воронежская область886,36266.27301,96322.58119,7288.9512,6420.95Ямало-Ненецкий автономный округ268,75583.8623,1747.2323,6867.392,7800.87Ярославская область404,56663.58131,36820.6479,76912.5410,2211.61Забайкальский край375,40765.8198,95817.3584,15114.755,8011.02ДругиеБайконур (Казахстан)10,04979.221,2559.891,1298.901331.05Голосование экспатриантов283,29885.8024,9327.5514,6954.453,7361.13Источник: ЦИК
Federal subjectMedvedevZyuganovZhirinovskyBogdanov#%#%#%#%Adygea151,44169.7746,68621.5115,0926.951,8610.86Altai Krai736,57860.35284,15923.28170,21413.9513,9301.14Altai Republic80,463 73.8217,20615.797,9378.201,1231.03Amur Oblast287,525 63.6279,32919.7663,97214.155,0661.12Arkhangelsk Oblast417,355 66.98116,98118.7772,47211.6310,4751.68Astrakhan Oblast380,35075.2887,34517.2929,2985.803,7800.75Bashkortostan2,315,46788.01208,6797.9375,5002.8715,8590.60Belgorod Oblast638,06868.96200,17021.6463,1236.828,8630.96Bryansk Oblast405,81961.82179,51027.3456,4098.596,5610.99Buryatia342,73670.8489,31518.4640,1108.295,0071.03Chechnya474,77888.7011,7232.1943,6178.154,5330.85Chelyabinsk Oblast1,214,02865.63374,06620.22209,10611.3028,4431.54Chukotka Autonomous Okrug26,18081.412,3067.172,8258.784031.25Chuvashia466,17066.48158,27022.5756,0217.997,0641.01Dagestan1,190,97491.9293,8737.246,3510.491,9750.15Ingushetia140,44291.662,2581.4710,2576.691650.11Ivanovo Oblast302,96364.9294,04920.1557,26312.276,8771.47Irkutsk Oblast738,79361.24263,21721.82169,50714.0519,8541.65Jewish Autonomous Oblast61,58767.3918,17019.889,1029.961,0481.15Kaliningrad Oblast269,25762.09100,66723.2150,59911.676,9971.61Kabardino Balkaria421,55188.8041,0758.6510,7872.277570.16Kalmykia102,40771.5631,90822.305,9264.141,3800.96Kaluga Oblast352,44665.54117,31821.8253,2359.907,4941.39Kamchatka Krai106,08569.3922,67914.8319,74812.922,3091.51Karachay Cherkessia252,19790.3522,1047.923,5811.285230.19Karelia211,67067.2554,39817.2839,42012.525,4741.74Kemerovo Oblast1,212,87370.51145,4018.45258,54715.0347,3042.75Khabarovsk Krai499,29164.12141,19118.13110,30614.1715,7562.02Khanty Mansi Autonomous Area528,49966.68114,77914.48126,23515.9312,7141.60Khakassia147,20860.4755,46922.7933,75013.863,6141.47Kirov Oblast608,71376.29112,99114.1657,8797.257,8300.98Komi Republic385,44771.7479,45114.7959,60111.096,7701.26Kostroma Oblast226,36162.4482,38022.7245,71312.614,6931.29Krasnodar Krai2,332,58175.06522,72516.82185,6835.9725,7710.83Krasnoyarsk Krai814,84262.47268,93820.62183,47614.0718,8811.14Kurgan Oblast319,48264.93101,56920.6452,14712.635,1491.05Kursk Oblast407,23264.27138,25621.8274,19211.716,4471.02Leningrad Oblast556,25070.19142,09817.9374,6620.4210,6511.34Lipetsk Oblast482,21065.84159,57521.7870,13021.798,9521.22Magadan Oblast53,87063.0717,16820.1011,84113.861,3041.53Mari El329,25777.2261,49714.4226,6436.254,1530.97Mordovia551,38290.3141,4736.7912,8142.101,5410.25Moscow Oblast2,654,10870.41678,74618.01320,2438.5054,5251.45Moscow3,285,99071.52756,93616.48347,3297.5693,7142.04Murmansk Oblast302,75765.2684,63818.2462,02913.378,4061.81Nenets Autonomous Okrug14,61461.544,25717.924,05417.074401.85Nizhny Novgorod Oblast1,133,12461.84438,28223.92209,80111.4527,0961.48North Ossetia Alania259,91073.3569,18919.5316,3504.612,0070.57Novgorod Oblast210,14565.8164,45920.1836,81311.534,5191.42Novosibirsk Oblast823,20161.90326,59124.56143,60610.8019,4791.46Omsk Oblast803,18763.04278,54021.86154,31812.1119,3431.52Orenburg Oblast626,85060.81271,12626.30111,29010.8011,2591.09Oryol Oblast331,46766.38113,67022.7640,6148.134,6900.94Penza Oblast331,46771.40158,86219.0454,2096.507,6010.91Perm Krai790,26867.30196,12416.70155,39113.2317,7521.51Primorsky Krai620,96863.84191,40119.68129,20513.2815,5261.60Pskov Oblast280,08570.1681,14420.3230,1977.563,6180.91Rostov Oblast1,772,59576.94351,88915.27141,3536.1419,6850.85Ryazan Oblast364,46060.82145,20724.2372,12312.048,6531.44Saint Petersburg1,652,52972.27383,49516.77167,8687.3442,5551.86Sakha Republic302,06067.7891,50320.5337,7438.477,7011.73Samara Oblast933,60564.08329,68122.63157,23710.7918,6291.28Saratov Oblast1,110,00475.62237,55316.2591,0946.2112,0550.82Sakhalin Oblast141,31563.5247,30021.2627,23512.243,7611.69Sverdlovsk Oblast1,432,01068.98273,62913.18302,88714.5934,5881.67Smolensk Oblast319,84259.26132,42724.5471,81713.317,4971.39Stavropol Krai827,51764.79295,81323.16127,0039.9413,2971.04Tambov Oblast483,11772.51128,76519.3335,8775.385,1040.77Tatarstan1,867,92179.24304,78912.93130,8205.5528,9751.23Tomsk Oblast297,04864.1288,74419.1661,32213.248,9331.93Tula Oblast585,95867.80177,13320.4977,3828.9510,1401.17Tuva118,09189.327,6385.784,1743.167720.58Tver Oblast519,38067.57147,43419.1883,23410.839,9111.29Tyumen Oblast676,84878.8880,8859.4380,9959.4410,0631.17Udmurtia551,02670.46126,53716.1884,52710.8110,9131.40Ulyanovsk Oblast443,11566.93141,32621.3560,6909.178,0591.22Vladimir Oblast433,58564.05147,83321.8478,08411.539,5571.41Volgograd Oblast743,77562.27289,61324.25135,79311.3713,2351.11Vologda Oblast451,22068.54105,31916.0284,55412.869,6221.46Voronezh Oblast886,36266.27301,96322.58119,7288.9512,6420.95Yamalo Nenets Autonomous Okrug268,75583.8623,1747.2323,6867.392,7800.87Yaroslavl Oblast404,56663.58131,36820.6479,76912.5410,2211.61Zabaykalsky Krai375,40765.8198,95817.3584,15114.755,8011.02OtherBaikonur (Kazakhstan)10,04979.221,2559.891,1298.901331.05Expatriate voting283,29885.8024,9327.5514,6954.453,7361.13Source: CEC
Реакции
По данным Russia Today, многие западные СМИ представляли российские президентские выборы как чистый фарс. В сообщении отмечалось, что утверждения о фальсификации выборов не получили подтверждения от присутствовавших международных наблюдательных миссий. Политический аналитик и член партии "Единая Россия" Сергей Марков заявил, что исход голосования был предопределен высоким уровнем поддержки политики Владимира Путина среди россиян. "Российский народ увидел эффективность этой политики и хочет, чтобы она продолжалась", – сказал он. Марков выразил опасения, что Запад попытается вмешаться и изменить результаты выборов, как это было сделано в Украине и Грузии.
According to Russia Today, many in the Western media portrayed Russia's presidential election as nothing but a farce. It reported that the claims of rigging the election were not supported by the various international election monitoring organizations in attendance. Political analyst and United Russia member, Sergei Markov, said that the outcome of this poll was predetermined because of how much support the Russian people show for Vladimir Putin's policies. "The Russian people have seen how successful these policies have been, and they want them to continue", he says. Markov cited fears that the West would interfere and change the course of the election, like they did in Ukraine and Georgia.