1996 Russian gubernatorial elections

1996 Russian gubernatorial elections

← 1995 24 March – 29 December 1996 1997 →
51 Heads of Federal Subjects from 89
Leader Gennady Zyuganov Sergey Filatov Alliance People's Patriotic Union of Russia All-Russian Coordination Council Seats won 23 17

Gubernatorial elections in 1996 took place in 51 regions of the Russian Federation. President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaymiyev as well as mayors of Moscow and Saint Petersburg Yury Luzhkov and Anatoly Sobchak (all three elected in 1991) went to the re-election, while other regions held their first gubernatorial elections that year. All these campaigns were held after the 1996 Russian presidential election.

In August 1996, two coalitions were presented, which formally became the main participants in the countrywides election campaign. Our Home – Russia, Democratic Choice of Russia, Party of Russian Unity and Accord and 16 other parties and movements loyal to re-elected Boris Yeltsin were united through representation in the All-Russian Coordination Council (OKS). It was opposed by the People's Patriotic Union of Russia (NPSR) associated with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and its allies. Former Kremlin Chief of Staff Sergei Filatov was appointed the head of OKS, while NPSR was headed by Gennady Zyuganov, leader of CPRF.^[1]

NPSR initially announced the lists of approved candidates publicly and centrally, but by the end of the campaign it gave a significant part of the initiative to the localities. In some cases, the support was unilateral (without public commitment of the candidate). Among the candidates supported by NPSR were three incumbent governors, and in three regions the alliance observed neutrality. OKS supported mainly the incumbent governors. As a result of the autumn-winter electoral marathon, 22 out of 49 running incumbents re-elected. The second tours in Mari El and Tyumen Oblast moved to 1997, as well as recall elections in Amur Oblast, Agin-Buryat and Evenk Autonomous Okrugs.^[2]

Federal Subject	Date	Incumbent	First elected	Candidates
Tatarstan	24 March	Mintimer Shaymiyev	1991	Y Mintimer Shaymiyev 97.14%
Saint Petersburg	19 May, 2 June	Anatoly Sobchak	1991	Y Vladimir Yakovlev 21.58% / 47.49% Anatoly Sobchak 29.02% / 45.76% Yury Boldyrev 17.09% Yuri Sevenard 10.02% Alexander Belyakov[a] 9.82%
Moscow	16 June	Yury Luzhkov	1991[b]	Y Yury Luzhkov / Valery Shantsev 88.49% Olga Sergeyeva / Stanislav Terekhov 4.94% Aleksandr Krasnov / Nikolay Moskvichyov 3.31%

• Ivanov, Vitaly (2019). Глава субъекта Российской Федерации. История губернаторов [Head of the subject of the Russian Federation. History of governors] (in Russian). ISBN 978-5-907250-14-7.