CNN - Polls open for Russian presidential election

Polls open for Russian presidential election

June 15, 1996
Web posted at: 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT)

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Polls opened Sunday in Russia's remotest region at the start of a historic presidential election, the outcome of which will shape the future of the largest nation on the planet. (762K QuickTime movie)

Some 106 million eligible voters will get the chance to decide the direction that their country will move in -- more of the painful reforms of Boris Yeltsin, a return to Communism under Gennady Zyuganov, or a wild-card vote for one of eight other candidates.

Russia Elections
Hourly Updates Sunday
Beginning 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT)

Polls opened at 8 a.m. Sunday local time (1900 GMT Saturday, 3 p.m. EDT Saturday) for the reindeer breeders, fishermen, miners and border guards in the Chukotka region east of Vladivostok, only a few miles from the U.S. state of Alaska.

Returns were not expected at the Central Electroal Commission in Moscow until the polls close on Sunday at Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast (1900 GMT Sunday, 3 p.m. EDT Sunday) -- 11 time zones away.

An army of about 1,100 international observers has fanned out across the nation, but they face a difficult task in watching out for irregularities at any of the 93,000 polling stations.

Two candidates -- incumbent Boris Yeltsin and Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov -- are expected to emerge as the leaders in the 10-man field. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers will face a runoff set for July 7.

Campaign continues quietly

Under Russian law, no official campaigning is allowed the day before the balloting begins.

That didn't stop Yeltsin from using his office to hand out money and get on the news. Films with a strong anti-Communist message, such as the Academy Award-winning "Burnt by the Sun," also were being aired over the weekend.

Television stations showed Yeltsin handing out state prizes to leading cultural figures and reported two new decrees promising money for impoverished regions of Siberia, where the Communists are strong.

"The repression of the former regime could not break the intelligentsia. On the contrary, it was a decisive influence on the creation in Russia of a democratic society," the Itar- Tass news agency quoted him as saying.

Russian newspapers, barred by law from electioneering in the last 24 hours, resorted to hints and insinuations to get their message across Saturday.

Pravda, the newspaper of the Communist Party, printed letters from pensioners who said they could not afford to eat properly and a letter from writer Alexander Zinovyev denying that the election was a straight choice between communism and democracy.

The government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta published a photograph of a young man nailing together the roof of a house -- clearly evoking the electoral symbol of the pro- government "Our Home is Russia" bloc.

Zyuganov tells West he won't crush freedoms

Zyuganov, who spent the last day of his official campaign in Moscow, told CNN that if elected his Communist government will be a coalition based on "freedom of choice, freedom of speech."

If he doesn't win, said Zyuganov, he will not urge his supporters to protest. "I am strongly opposed to people taking to the street," he said. " "This is not the kind of issue that can be settled in the street," he said. "If Mr. Yeltsin and his bunch don't stage any civil unrest, this country will be all set ... We will guarantee that no one is going to be harassed either for political or ideological reasons."

Chechnya vote continues despite violence

Early voting began Friday night in Chechnya, where rebels are opposed to local parliamentary elections.

Chechen authorities reported three attacks on polling stations in Grozny Friday night. A Chechen policeman was killed in the attacks, and Russian commanders said their troops had come under fire 22 times in the past 24 hours.

Chechen government officials said 374 polling stations were open and voting was going smoothly, but voting appeared to be going slowly at polling stations in Grozny.

Some Chechen officials blamed the low turnout on television reports that the elections would be postponed.

Balloting both for president of Russia and for the local Chechen parliament has begun, despite objections from Chechen rebels who oppose the balloting for the local parliament.

Correspondent Brent Sadler, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Pivotal Elections: Russia

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Polls open for Russian presidential election

Campaign continues quietly

Zyuganov tells West he won't crush freedoms

Chechnya vote continues despite violence

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