Editing Mikhail Gorbachev (section)

====1996 presidential campaign====

{{main|Mikhail Gorbachev 1996 presidential campaign}}

The [[1996 Russian presidential election|Russian presidential elections]] were scheduled for June 1996, and although he was urged not to run, Gorbachev decided to do so.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=660}} He never expected to win outright, but thought a centrist bloc could be formed around either himself or one of the other candidates with similar views, such as [[Grigory Yavlinsky]], [[Svyatoslav Fyodorov]], or [[Alexander Lebed]].{{sfn|Taubman|2017|pp=660–661}} After securing the necessary one million signatures of nomination, he announced his candidacy in March.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=661}} Launching [[Mikhail Gorbachev 1996 presidential campaign|his campaign]], he traveled across Russia giving rallies in twenty cities.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=661}} He repeatedly faced anti-Gorbachev protesters, while some pro-Yeltsin local officials tried to hamper his campaign by banning local media from covering it or by refusing him access to venues.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=662}} In the election, Gorbachev came seventh with approximately 386,000 votes, or around 0.5% of the total.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=663}} Yeltsin and Zyuganov went through to the second round, where the former was victorious.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=663}}