First attempt

27 October 1996

Nikolai Yegorov and Nikolai Kondratenko were the two main candidates. Yegorov represented Yeltsin's administration and Kondratenko ran with the support of parties opposed to Yeltsin. The result was:

Voter turnout: 43.3%
Distribution of ballots:

Mikhail Kurkov from Sochi was a candidate but withdrew in Kondratenko's favour. Aleksandr Tkachyov from Vyselki also ran, but withdrew in Yegorov's favour. The election failed because the electoral laws of Krasnodar Krai required participation of at least 50% of the citizens eligible to vote. On the next day the local parliament tried to reduce the threshold to 25% in order to finalize the election. It looked strange to change the law post facto, but although the results were not official it seemed to be legal. But Yegorov vetoed the reduction, and the parliament could pass the veto only some time later, when the first vote was officially declared to have failed.

Second attempt

The second vote was set for 22 December 1996. It was obvious that Kondratenko would run again, but Yegorov ran against him even though he seemed to have no chance. The results bore that out: his loss was even worse than in October.

22 December 1996

Citizens eligible to vote - 3,795,309
Ballots taken - 1,845,768 (48.63% voter turnout)
Ballots found in boxes - 1,842,259
Valid ballots - 1,822,520

Invalid ballots 19,739 1.07%^[1]

Although voter participation increased, it did not reach the old threshold. But as the threshold voting rate had been reduced to 25%, the second election was declared valid.