ABSTRACT
Once Boris Yeltsin had made his move to the Kremlin, no political force could seriously hope to evict him. However, Yeltsin's second term as president expired in 2000, and he could not lay claim to a third term without destroying the most important legacy of his rule-the constitution. Although speculation that the elections would be cancelled appeared in the press just as it had in 1995, none of the serious players on the political scene, including the president himself, had any doubts that this time the script for the political drama would be different. The figure of a successor thus appeared in the wings of the political stage. The spectre of this presidential heir was to haunt the country for some time. Various politicians were considered as possible candidates for the role, and several of the most likely claimants to the throne of Russia's elective monarchy very nearly paid for this with their political careers.
