Zyuganov, Gennady - World Encyclopedia

Zyuganov, Gennady (1944– ) Russian politician. During the 1970s and 1980s, Zyuganov moved up the Soviet Communist Party hierarchy, taking positions focused on ideology and propaganda. In 1993, he became chairman of the executive committee of the reconstituted Russian Communist Party and was elected to the State Duma (the lower House of the Russian Parliament). The Communist Party gained the largest number of votes in 1995 elections, and Zyuganov mounted a strong challenge in the 1996 presidential elections. He was defeated by a coalition of Boris Yeltsin and Aleksander Lebed.