Presidential elections were held in Russia on 2 March 2008. Incumbent president Vladimir Putin was ineligible to run for a third term. Dmitry Medvedev was elected for a four-year term with the support of Putin and five political parties (United Russia, Fair Russia, Agrarian Party, Civilian Power, and Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"), receiving 71% of the vote and defeating Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.Reintroducing: The Democratic Party Of Russia , The eXile, June 15, 2007.Presidential candidate Bogdanov denies Kremlin ties, Reuters, January 30, 2008.
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 European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair."
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".
Candidates
Registered candidates Candidates are listed in the order they appear on the ballot paper (alphabetical order in Russian). Candidate name, age,political party Political offices Details Registration dateAndrey Bogdanov(38)Democratic Party(campaign)Leader of the Democratic Party(2005–2014)Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Russia(2007–present)Registered as a candidate on January 24. Bogdanov had an investigation opened against him for providing too many forged signatures of support for his nomination, but it was reported that even if the accusations were to be proven, his candidacy would not be dismissed.News.ru. Прокуратура выявила факт подделки подписей в поддержку Богданова. Но участь Касьянова ему не грозит. 2008-01-31. At 38, he was the youngest person to run for president in Russia, a record he would retain until 2018.24 January 2008Vladimir Zhirinovsky(61)Liberal Democratic Party(campaign)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.Центральная избирательная комиссия Российской Федерации 26 December 2007Gennady Zyuganov(63)Communist Party(campaign)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.Kommersant Moscow. Zyuganov Announces His Presidential Bid . 2007-06-11 Officially nominated on December 15, 2007, with 215 of 218 votes in favor.ITAR-TASS Communist leader Zyuganov nominated for Russia presidency. 2007-12-15. Registered as a candidate on December 26.Центральная избирательная комиссия Российской Федерации 26 December 2007Dmitry Medvedev(42)United Russia(campaign)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, 2007Kyiv Post. Russian opposition party SPS nominates Nemtsov as presidential candidate and was registered as a candidate on December 22.Центральная избирательная комиссия Российской Федерации 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.Russia: President's Potential Successor Debuts At Davos. January 31, 2007. 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. Дмитрий Медведев выдвинут в президенты России Lenta.ru 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.United Russia endorses D Medvedev as candidate for presidency ITAR-TASS, December 17, 2007. 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.Medvedev Registers for Russian Presidency, Will Leave Gazprom, Bloomberg, December 20, 2007. Sources close to Gazprom and Medvedev told the Vedomosti newspaper that Medvedev might be replaced by Putin at Gazprom.Putin may become Gazprom chairman, Reuters, December 21, 2007. His registration was formally accepted as valid by the Russian Central Election Commission on January 21, 2008. О регистрации Дмитрия Анатольевича Медведева кандидатом на должность Президента Российской Федерации , Decision No. 88/688-5 of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, January 21, 2008.
In January 2008, Medvedev launched his presidential campaign with stops in the regions.Putin's successor dismisses fears of state "grab", Reuters, January 17, 2008. 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.Speech by Dmitry A. Medvedev, New York Times, December 11, 2007 Although constitutionally barred from a third consecutive presidential term, such a role would allow Putin to continue as an influential figure in Russian politicsDrive Starts to Make Putin 'National Leader' The Moscow Times, November 8, 2007 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" ("").
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.Angus Reid Global Monitor. 2007-10-03.
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.Vote rig claim after Putin ally landslide - CNN.com 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."Election watchdog scraps plans to monitor Russian vote National Post Retrieved on March 19, 2008
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.Voices of outrage in a Biysk territorial election commission, FederalPress March 5, 2008
The European election monitoring group PACE characterized the election as "neither free nor fair."
Representatives from the GOLOS monitoring group stated that "the Election Day was held in a relatively quiet atmosphere in contrast to the State Duma election day. Such large-scale violations observed then as campaigning next to polling stations, transporting of voters, intimidation of voters and others were practically non-existent." They did however report irregularities in the election.STATEMENT # 3 OF GOLOS ASSOCIATION ON THE RESULTS OF SHORT-TERM MONITORING OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ON MARCH 2, 2008 , The GOLOS Association, Moscow, March 3, 2008
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.