Before the scandalous presidential election of 1996, the situation was clear-cut and critical. A victory by Gennady Zyuganov over Boris Yeltsin would have meant an old-style Communists' revenge for their defeat in the August 1991 putsch as well as a strong drive toward renationalization of the economy and eventual attempts to "bring back" under Moscow's control at least some of the former Soviet republics.
Nowadays, the situation is different. Paradoxically, though Russia's Communists stay basically unreformed, Comrade Zyuganov's more-than-minor success in the forthcoming elections — his participation in the second round and decent voting results in it — may be a welcome outcome in comparison with Vladimir Putin's triumph in the first round.
Here is why: just like his Communist rival, Vladimir Putin does not look like a person who can be easily "reformed" and "adapted" to new conditions in the country. Upon a probable victory with flying colors, he — most likely — will come back as we know him, with his authoritarian ways, with an aim to stay for long. Not a "new Putin" for sure, maybe even a worse variety than we know.