Presidential elections were held in Russia on 16 June 1996, with a second round being held on 3 July. It resulted in a victory for the incumbent President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, who ran as an independent politician. Yeltsin defeated Communist challenger Gennady Zyuganov in the run-off, receiving 54.4% of the vote. The election was marred by allegations of voter fraud against Yeltsin and foreign interference from the United States government. His inauguration ceremony took place on 9 August. Yeltsin would not complete the second term for which he was elected, as he resigned on 31 December 1999, eight months before the scheduled end of his term on 9 August 2000. This was the first presidential election to take place in post-Soviet Russia. This has also been so far the only Russian presidential election in which no candidate was able to win on the first round, and as such a run-off was necessary. Background In 1991, Boris Yeltsin was elected to a five-year term as President of Russia, which was still a part of the Soviet Union at the time. The next election was scheduled be held sometime in 1996. In late December 1991, Soviet Russia became a sovereign nation in wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This meant that the scheduled election would now be the first ever presidential election to be held in a fully sovereign Russia. In a 1993 Russian government referendum question (III), Russian voters rejected holding an early presidential election, and the presidential election remained scheduled to be held in the year 1996. Later in 1993, the Constitution of Russia was adopted. In the constitution, future presidential terms were stipulated to last for four years, meaning that the 1996 election would elect a president to serve a four-year term. When incumbent president Yeltsin launched his reelection campaign in early 1996, he was widely predicted to lose. Public opinion of Yeltsin was at a historical low point. Due to this, there was talk about Yeltsin potentially postponing or canceling the election; however, he ultimately decided against this. Shortly before the election campaign, Yeltsin had faced a number of significant political humiliations which harmed his political stature. In the 1995 Russian legislative election, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) had achieved dominance in the State Duma. On 9 January 1996, Chechen rebels seized thousands of hostages in Dagestan and Yeltsin's response to this