What they did in 1996 was bar Yeltsin's opposition (that is, the CPRF) from the electronic media and threaten that, if the CP won, there would either be a return to Stalinism (a bullshit threat; the CPRF are social democrats) or a civil war (a real possibility). Even so, Zyuganov almost won. In fact, he may actually have won --there is good reason to suspect that the votes were fiddled with.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal
-Is there proof of such a massive fraud?
Alexandre Fenelon