Abstract
After the first round of Russian Presidential elections in 1996, the Central Electoral Commission Chairman goes to President Yeltsin and says that he has good news and bad news. ‘Give me the bad news first,’ sighs the President. ‘Well, the bad news is that Zyuganov got 60 percent of the vote,’ said the Chairman. ‘That's terrible!’ exclaims Yeltsin. ‘But, what's the good news?’ the President asks. ‘Well, sir, you got 75 percent.’ Jokes like this ran rampant during the summer 1996 Russian election campaign. Such humor was popular for good reason—many Russians and others feared this election would bring communists back to power. That Gennady Zyuganov did not win was welcomed by democrats in Russia and the West. But the continuing fragility of their democratic elections will require of Russians all the humor they can muster.
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