ABSTRACT
Unlike in previous Russian presidential elections, in 2004, the eventual victory of the incumbent president was never in doubt. 1 Devoid of the competition of earlier elections, the 2004 race was essentially a vote of confidence in President Putin. Despite the lack of competition, the 2004 election was of great importance in terms of Russia’s future political development and the power and political manoeuvrability of President Putin. Prior presidential elections played a key role in the formation of the post-communist system: regulating the balance of power between elites, strengthening private property and preventing a return to communism. More importantly, previous elections contained an element of uncertainty regarding the country’s future development: Russia could have moved towards oligarchic or bureaucratic capitalism, but could also have moved towards real democracy (Shevtsova 2004a). The 2004 election performed a different function from previous Russian presidential races: the direction of development was not at issue. Instead the election served as a referendum on the post-communist system formalised during Vladimir Putin’s first presidential term. President Putin sought popular support at the ballot box in order to confer legitimacy on the systemic changes he had introduced since taking office in 2000. Vladimir Putin first came to power as the chosen successor of Boris Yeltsin. The elite group around Yeltsin anticipated that, as president, Putin would remain loyal to their interests. Yet despite having been selected by a clique around Yeltsin, Putin was quickly able to distance himself from the legacy of the Yeltsinites. Although Putin’s policies remained broadly in keeping with the general thrust of reforms pursued by Yeltsin, his leadership style and methods of governance differed greatly from those of his predecessor (Sakwa: 2004: 78). Putin had inherited an unstable political order in which the influence of the oligarchs and the regional governors had weakened the state’s capacity for action. After ten years of transformation under Yeltsin, it fell to Putin to build an effective state and give a sense of permanence to the post-communist system. During his first administration, Putin introduced a number of initiatives to strengthen the state in relation to the socio-economic and political interests that had constrained the exercise of power by his predecessor. As a consequence of Putin’s state-building initiatives, the conduct and culture of politics in Russia changed dramatically. A landslide victory in the 2004 presidential election would legitimise and embed Putin’s changes.
