The formation of a presidential form of government in our state was not an easy process, it happened relatively recently. At first, Russia was a monarchical power, headed by the tsar, and power was inherited. After the Great October Socialist Revolution took place, power in the state, called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), began to belong to the Communist Party. The head of the country was the Secretary General.
This post lasted until Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev came to power, who introduced the post of president of the Soviet Union in the state. He became both the first and the last president of this state. In the future, the post of state head was determined by the presidential election. The years in Russia, who participated and the results of the vote are the topic of this article.
The very first presidential election in Russia
The very first presidential elections were held in June 1991, as a result of which Boris Yeltsin was elected to a senior position. It should be noted that at that time Russia was a republic within the Soviet Union and was called the RSFSR. Mikhail Gorbachev did not take part in these elections. The presidential election was called according to the results of the referendum held in March of the same year.
There were six presidential candidates. Boris Yeltsin won by a margin from other applicants, among whom were Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Nikolai Ryzhkov, Aman Tuleyev, Albert Makashov, as well as Vadim Bakatin. All these figures left a mark in the political life of the country to one degree or another. For example, Zhirinovsky in 1993 came to the State Duma at the head of his party - the LDPR - and remained there to this day. Ryzhkov was also elected to the State Duma, and Tuleyev became governor of the Kemerovo region.
Presidential Election 1996
The next presidential election took place five years after the very first election of the country's leader. Their result was the re-election of Boris Yeltsin.
Today, many argue about whether these elections were fair, whether there were any fraud or fraud. The fact is that at the time of 1995 the rating of the current president was very low and amounted to about 3-6 percent. Also, elections to the State Duma took place this year, and the Communist Party (KPRF) led by Zyuganov won the majority of the votes. It was expected that he would become the favorite of the 1996 presidential race. According to the results of the first round of elections, out of 11 candidates, two got the advantage - Gennady Zyuganov and Boris Yeltsin. As a result, a second round was appointed, during which Yeltsin became president of Russia.
Among some supporters of the communist idea, there is an opinion that the elections were rigged, and Zyuganov who refused to “fight to the end” received a real victory.
In 1999, during the New Year's greetings, Boris Yeltsin announced to the country that he would voluntarily resign. Acting was appointed Vladimir Putin.
The turn of the century presidential election: 2000
Yeltsin’s resignation resulted in early presidential elections held in late March 2000. At the time of the start of the election campaign, 33 applications were filed, among which 28 people were nominated by initiative civil groups, and the remaining five - by political organizations, parties. Vladimir Putin was nominated not on behalf of a political party, but on behalf of an initiative group. Subsequently, 12 participants remained - the rest were not registered for one reason or another, but only 11 people took part in the elections. Shortly before election day, one of the candidates withdrew.
The 2000 presidential election brought victory to Vladimir Putin. Second place went to Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of the Communists.
Elections 2004
After a four-year period, a new election campaign began for the presidential election. In mid-March 2004, a presidential election was held. The candidates, in fact, did not represent any serious competition for the current leader of the country, Vladimir Putin, which allowed him to be re-elected for a second term. It should be noted that this time the Communist Party nominated Nikolai Kharitonov instead of the unchanging Gennady Zyuganov. The LDPR acted in the same way - instead of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Oleg Malyshkin participated in the elections. There were also such candidates as Irina Khakamada, Sergey Mironov and Sergey Glazyev.
Election 2008. New president
According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the president does not have the right to run for a third term. In connection with this fact, the public discussed the opinion of which candidate will be the “successor” of Vladimir Putin. At first, it was assumed that “Ivanov’s candidate” would be Sergey Ivanov, but then the figure of Dmitry Medvedev appeared on the political scene. He was nominated by the United Russia political party. In addition to him, Gennady Zyuganov from the Communist Party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky from the Liberal Democratic Party and Andrei Bogdanov, a representative of the Democratic Party of Russia, but running for election as a candidate, took part. Thus, only four surnames appeared on the ballot.
At the very beginning of March, the 2nd, presidential elections were held. The results were quite predictable - Putin’s protege Dmitry Medvedev won. Zyuganov took the second place, Zhirinovsky took the third, respectively, Bogdanov was the last.
Third term of Vladimir Putin
The next presidential election in Russia took place in March 2012. Vladimir Putin, who occupied the prime minister’s chair during Medvedev’s reign, decided to participate in them. The text of the Constitution was interpreted in the following way, which states that the president cannot be elected for more than two consecutive terms. As a result, an opinion appeared that after Medvedev’s presidency, the third term is obtained “not in a row”, and Vladimir Putin calmly put forward his candidacy for the election. In addition to him, four more candidates took part - Zyuganov, Zhirinovsky, Mironov, as well as Mikhail Prokhorov, nominated in self-nomination. The result was a victory for Putin, who is the president to this day.
It should be noted that a number of public and political figures recognized the elections as illegal, including because Putin, who had already held the presidency twice, took part in them. On the eve of the inauguration, on May 6, a protest rally was held in Moscow, which grew into riots. However, this did not give any results, except for detentions and prison sentences for the participants.
