1995 Russian gubernatorial elections

1995 Russian gubernatorial elections

←  1994 6 August – 30 December 1995 1996  →
15 Heads of Federal Subjects from 89
1995 Russian regional elections:   Gubernatorial   Legislative   Legislative (of another subject)   Referendum   Referendum and legislative

Gubernatorial elections in 1995 took place in fifteen regions of the Russian Federation.

Background

On 3 October 1994, the President of Russia Boris Yeltsin signed the Decree No. 1969 stating that elections for heads of administrations should be held only with the president's permission, until another procedure is established by federal law. ^{[1] [2]}

The head of administration is included in the unified system of executive power in the Russian Federation, formed by the federal executive bodies and executive bodies of the regions ... is subordinate to the President and the Government of Russia ... Appointment and dismissal of heads of administrations of krais, oblasts, federal cities, autonomous entities is made by decrees of the President on the proposal of the Chairman of the Government

In August 1995, elections for the head of the administration of Sverdlovsk Oblast, unauthorized by the president, were held, and on December 17, in accordance with a presidential decree, elections were scheduled in 11 regions. In the same year, the president of Kalmykia was re-elected and the head of the Chechen Republic was elected.

Race summary

Federal Subject [3]	Date	Incumbent	Incumbent status	Candidates	Result
Sverdlovsk Oblast	6 August (first round)	Aleksey Strakhov	Appointed 1994	Eduard Rossel 26.01% Aleksey Strakhov (NDR) 23.44% Valery Trushnikov 20.30% Vladimir Kadochnikov (CPRF) 8.06% Malik Gaisin 4.89%	Incumbent lost election. Former governor elected.
	20 August (runoff)			Y Eduard Rossel 59.86% Aleksey Strakhov (NDR) 32.10%
Kalmykia	15 October	Kirsan Ilyumzhinov	Elected 1993	Y Kirsan Ilyumzhinov 85.09% (ran unopposed)	Incumbent re-elected.
Chechnya	17 December	Doku Zavgayev	Chairman of the Government	Y Doku Zavgayev 90.00% (ran unopposed)	Incumbent elected to full term.
Primorsky Krai	17 December	Yevgeny Nazdratenko	Appointed 1993	Y Yevgeny Nazdratenko (NDR) 68.55% Viktor Cherepkov 17.24%	Incumbent elected to full term.
Belgorod Oblast	17 December	Yevgeny Savchenko	Appointed 1993	Y Yevgeny Savchenko (NDR) 55.54% Mikhail Beskhmenitsyn 32.19% Sergey Sychyov (LDPR) 6.04%	Incumbent elected to full term.
Moscow Oblast	17 December (first round)	Anatoly Tyazhlov	Appointed 1991	Anatoly Tyazhlov (NDR) 43.33% Valery Galchenko 14.67% Oleg Antonov 14.07% Viktor Dorkin 5.74%	Incumbent elected to full term.
	30 December (runoff)			Y Anatoly Tyazhlov (NDR) 70.83% Valery Galchenko 21.41%
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast	17 December	Boris Nemtsov	Appointed 1991	Y Boris Nemtsov 58.37% Vyacheslav Rasteryayev 26.17% Oleg Maslov (KRO) 6.17%	Incumbent elected to full term.
Novgorod Oblast	17 December	Mikhail Prusak	Appointed 1991	Y Mikhail Prusak (NDR) 56.17% Anatoly Kuznetsov 8.94% Valery Gaidym (CPRF) 8.72%	Incumbent elected to full term.
Novosibirsk Oblast	17 December (first round)	Ivan Indinok	Appointed 1993	Ivan Indinok (NDR) 22.81% Vitaly Mukha 18.12% Aleksey Manannikov 17.49% Ivan Starikov 16.72% Yevgeny Loginov (LDPR) 15.58%	Incumbent lost election. Former governor elected.
	24 December (runoff)			Y Vitaly Mukha 54.04% Ivan Indinok (NDR) 37.24%
Omsk Oblast	17 December	Leonid Polezhayev	Appointed 1991	Y Leonid Polezhayev (NDR) 59.62% Viktor Lotkov 13.75% Leonid Gorynin (KRO) [4] 8.79% Yevgeny Pokhitailo (CPRF) 8.27%	Incumbent elected to full term.
Orenburg Oblast [5]	17 December	Vladimir Yelagin	Appointed 1991	Y Vladimir Yelagin (NDR) 58.78% Gennady Donkovtsev 21.69% Yury Kalyuzhny (Derzhava) 7.79%	Incumbent elected to full term.
Tambov Oblast [6]	17 December (first round)	Oleg Betin	Appointed 1995	Oleg Betin (NDR) 41.97% Aleksandr Ryabov (CPRF) 36.80% Pavel Gorbunov 7.34% Yury Baturov 5.09% Against all 6.80%	Incumbent lost election. New governor elected.
	24 December (runoff)			Y Aleksandr Ryabov (CPRF) 52.62% Oleg Betin (NDR) 43.48%
Tomsk Oblast	17 December	Viktor Kress	Appointed 1991	Y Viktor Kress (NDR) 52.09% Pyotr Koshel (LDPR) 15.52% Ivan Tyutrin 15.10% Rostislav Popadeykin 9.61%	Incumbent elected to full term.
Tver Oblast [7]	17 December	Vladimir Suslov	Appointed 1991	Y Vladimir Platov 50.50% Vladimir Suslov 35.16% Against all 6.73%	Incumbent lost election. New governor elected.
Yaroslavl Oblast	17 December	Anatoly Lisitsyn	Appointed 1991	Y Anatoly Lisitsyn (NDR) 51.81% Vladimir Kornilov (CPRF) 33.10%	Incumbent elected to full term.

Kalmykia

In October 1995 Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was re-elected as President of Kalmykia in early elections, running unopposed. This term (seven years) was the longest among the Russian governors. According to Ilyumzhinov himself, his competitors failed to collect signatures for registration, and Ilyumzhinov's administration decided not to find any nominal candidate, because he did not want to "fool the people". ^[8]

Chechnya

See also: First Chechen War

The 1995 elections for the head of Chechen Republic were held on December 17, simultaneously with the elections to the State Duma. Contrary to the laws of Russia, but according to the decision of the Supreme Council of the former Checheno-Ingushetia (which was restored as a temporary authority of Chechnya), ^[9] every resident of Chechnya could vote wherever it suits them. The separatists staged a number of provocations. A few hours before the elections, a hospital in Gudermes was stormed by them. One of the schools in Grozny, where the polling station was located, was thrown by militants with grenades. ^[10]

On December 6, the congress of the "Union of the People for the Revival of the Republic" was failed to held because of the government restrictions: delegates from the southern parts of Chechnya were stopped at checkpoints. The union was headed by the former chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Russia Ruslan Khasbulatov, considered Zavgayev's only real rival. For these reasons, on December 9, Khasbulatov withdrew from the elections. ^[11]

According to official sources, 50.43% of Chechnya's residents took part in the voting. In addition, Russian military contingent stationed in Chechnya (about 40 thousand people) took part in the elections. The elections were monitored by 60 OSCE representatives, as well as 150 Russian and international observers, and no serious violations were identified. ^[10] Other sources stating that OSCE representatives left Chechnya during the elections and none of the international observers attended the voting. ^[11]

References

1. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of October 3, 1994 No. 1969 "On measures to strengthen the unified system of executive power in the Russian Federation"
2. 3 October 1994: Regulation "On the head of administration" approved, Electronic Museum of Russia's constitutional history
3. Gubernatorial elections — 1995, politika.su
4. "Омская область в декабре 1995 года". Institute for Humanities and Political Studies (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2019-08-23.
5. "Выборы Главы исполнительной власти Оренбургской области 17 декабря 1995 года" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 1 May 2001.
6. "Выборы главы администрации Тамбовской области 17/24 декабря 1995 года". Election Commission of Tambov Oblast (in Russian). Retrieved 20 October 2025.
7. "Выборы губернатора Тверской области 17 декабря 1995 года". electoralgeography.com (in Russian).
8. Иванов, В.В. (2019). Глава субъекта Российской Федерации. История губернаторов. Том I [Head of the subject of the Russian Federation. History of governors. Volume I] (in Russian). p. 364.
9. "Russia-Chechnya: chain of mistakes and crimes. Chronicle of the armed conflict. 1995. October". Memorial Society. Archived from the original on 2016-12-25. Retrieved 2016-12-25.
10. How Chechnya elects, Kommersant (10 October 2003)
11. "Violation of the electoral rights of citizens". Memorial Society. Archived from the original on 2016-12-24.