Russia's 1996 Presidential Election: The End of Polarized Politics (Hoover Institution Press Publication) (Volume 442)

How did Boris Yeltsin-judged by most analysts and politicians the obvious underdog going into the 1996 Russian presidential election-emerge as the clear winner? Was Yeltsin's landslide reelection as free and fair as it appears? This volume reveals the reasons behind Yeltsin's victory and examines its impact on the future of electoral politics in post-soviet Russia. In June 1996, for the first time in thousand years, Russian citizens were given the chance to select their head of state in a democratic election. Michael McFaul analyzes three major factors that combine to explain why Boris Yeltsin's victory, should have been expected, discusses the reasons behind Yeltsin's victory, and examines its impact on electoral politics in post-Soviet Russia. How could Yeltsin possibly avoid defeat without falsifying the results or postponing the election entirely? Michael McFaul analyzes three major factors that combine to explain why Yeltsin's victory should have been expected, namely, the "revolutionary" nature of the electorate's choices polarizing and consolidating effects of the presidential election itself superior, modern campaign strategy of Boris Yeltsin In addition to the analysis, McFaul offers possible scenarios for Russia's next presidential election, as well as the potential future of democratic consolidation in Russia. 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Was Yeltsin's landslide reelection as free and fair as it appeared? In June 1996, for the first time in a thousand years, Russian citizens were given the chance to select their head of state in a democratic election. Yet the reformist incumbent, Boris Yeltsin, seemed poised for certain defeat at the hands of the Communist Party leader Gennadii Zyuganov; six months earlier, in parliamentary elections, Russian voters resoundingly rejected proreformist candidates in favor of those from the Communist Party and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Michael McFaul Analyzes three major factors that combine to explain why Yeltsin's victory should have been expected, namely, the "revolutionary" nature of the electorate's choices, polarizing and consolidating effects of the presidential election itself, and the superior, modern campaign strategy of Boris Yeltsin. In addition to the analysis, McFaul offers possible scenarios for Russia's next presidential election, as well as the potential future of democratic consolidation in Russia.