Comparative analysis of presidential elections in 2000 and 2004 posted

The Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation has posted the comparative analysis of the presidential elections in 2000 and 2004. According to its chairman, Alexander Veshnyakov, in 2000 Vladimir Putin mustered 52.9 percent of the vote, against 71.2 percent in 2004. In 2000, Gennady Zyuganov was nominated by the Communist Party. He received 29.2 percent of the vote. In 2004 Nikolay Kharitonov was chosen to be the Communist candidate. He mustered 13.7 percent. Oleg Malyshkin, the LDPR candidate, received 2 percent of the vote, against 2.7 percent given for Vladimir Zhirinovsky in 2000. According to Veshnyakov, the number of "against all" votes increased this year and reached 3.5 percent, against 1.9 in 2000.