 119 of the Nizhny Novgorod region, nominated directly by voters.He was a member of the Communist Party faction in the State Duma of the third convocation of the Communist Party faction, a member of the Committee on Industry, Construction and High Technologies.In 2001, he again ran as a candidate for the post of governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, in the first round of elections he took the first place among the five candidates (24.44% of votes) on July 15, in the second round on July 29, gaining 59% of the vote, over the former governor Ivan Sklyarov (27% of the vote) with a 35% voter turnout.