Russian presidential election, 2004

Russian presidential election, 2004

2000 ← 14 March 2004 → 2008

Turnout 64.3% 4.3 pp   Nominee Vladimir Putin Nikolay Kharitonov Party Independent Communist Party Home state Saint Petersburg Novosibirsk Oblast Popular vote 49,558,328 9,514,554 Percentage 71.9% 13.8%   Nominee Sergey Glazyev Irina Khakamada Party Independent Independent Home state Zaporizhia Oblast (now Ukraine) Moscow Popular vote 2,850,610 2,672,189 Percentage 4.1% 3.9%

Constituencies won by Vladimir Putin   Constituencies won by Nikolay Kharitonov

President before election Vladimir Putin Unity Elected President Vladimir Putin Independent Supported by United Russia

Vladimir Putin
Unity

Vladimir Putin
Independent
Supported by
United Russia

Presidential elections were held in Russia on 14 March 2004. Incumbent President Vladimir Putin was seeking a second full four-year term. He was re-elected with 71.9% of the vote.

Glazyev was Minister for Foreign Trade under Boris Yeltsin, a Communist member of the State Duma and in 2003 became co-chairman of the newly established Rodina party. However, he failed to win the Rodina nomination because of a power struggle with Dmitri Rogozin, and ran as independent candidate. He campaigned as a critic of economic reforms. He argued that post-Communist governments have ignored social justice and promised to improve welfare.

Khakamada, the daughter of a Japanese Communist who took Soviet citizenship in the 1950s, emerged as Putin's most outspoken critic. A member of the State Duma for eight years, she lost her seat in 2003. She was a member of the Union of Rightist Forces, but did not run as a party candidate. "I am not afraid of the terrorists in power," she told the daily newspaper Kommersant. "Our children must grow up as free people. Dictatorship will not be accepted."