was viewed as a failure. Additionally, Yeltsin was overseeing a terrible economy. Russian economy was still contracting and many workers had continued to be unpaid for months. By early 1996, Yeltsin's public approval was so poor that he was polling at fifth place among presidential candidates, with only 8 percent support, while CPRF leader Gennady Zyuganov was in the lead with 21 percent support. When Zyuganov showed up at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in February 1996, many Western leaders and the international media were eager to see him, and treated him with regards to believing that he would likely be the next president of Russia; however, Yeltsin managed to reverse his fortunes, ultimately defeating Zyuganov in the second round of the election. Candidates Registered candidates Withdrawn candidates Campaigning Vladimir Bryntsalov Pharmaceutical businessman Vladimir Bryntsalov ran as the candidate of the Russian Socialist Party. Brytsalov claimed that his leadership would eliminate the country's poverty, promising that if he were elected, there would be "no poor pensioners, no poor workers, no poor entrepreneurs, no poor farmers." His plan, which he dubbed "Russian socialism", was for large companies to begin paying wages comparable to companies in other industrialized nations. The plan anticipated that the employees of the companies would consequentially pay larger income taxes, spend more on consumer goods, and increase their productivity at their jobs. The feasibility of this plan was criticized, as Russian companies were considered to be unable to pay such wages. Brytsalov promoted himself with the superlative claim of being "the richest man in Russia" and flaunted his wealth. Despite being a (recently elected) deputy of the State Duma, Brytsalov did not have a voting-record. In his legislative career, he had very low attendance and extremely little participation. Brytsalov was seen as a marginal candidate, and was generally regarded as unlikely to win the election. Mikhail Gorbachev Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ran as an independent candidate. He ran as a self-proclaimed social democrat. His campaign was hampered both by strong public disdain towards him and a strong lack of media coverage for his candidacy. Svyatoslav Fyodorov Politician and renown ophthalmologist Svyatoslav Fyodorov ran as the candidate of the Party of Workers' Self-Government. He is the founder and leader of the party, which was, at the time, arguably the most influential social-democratic movement in Russia. Fyodorov was considered to be on the center-left of the political