CNN - Communists charge Russian television with election law violation

Communists charge Russian television with election law violation

July 2, 1996
Web posted at: 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT)

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Russian Communist Party officials accused the country's main television station Tuesday of a "serious violation" of election law by not airing one of their political ads on the last official day of campaigning before Wednesday's presidential runoff.

"We have returned into the era of the darkest obscurantism," said filmmaker Stanislav Govorukhin at a press conference with Valentin Kuptsov, Communist candidate Gennady Zyuganov's campaign manager.

Russia's most powerful TV station, ORT, refused to air the five-minute ad Monday, claiming that the Communists were late in applying for time, did not pay for it, and that it contained "unproven allegations" of election fraud.

But the Communists said that the ad was paid for and that ORT ignored an order from the Central Election Commission to broadcast the ad.

Zyuganov's campaign has complained frequently about the unabashedly pro-Yeltsin nature of Russia's media, particularly the television stations.

Kuptsov also complained about the rebroadcast Tuesday of a videotaped address by President Boris Yeltsin that originally aired Monday, the president's first appearance in four days. Russian law bars campaigning on the day before an election. (445K QuickTime movie)

During the three-minute address, Yeltsin urged Russians to go to the polls to vote for "a new and free Russia," but it was the president's health that drew remarks from Zyuganov.

Yeltsin aides said the president, who has twice been hospitalized with heart ailments in the past year, was suffering from a cold that caused laryngitis, but Zyuganov challenged that claim. Yeltsin canceled several appearances in the final days of the campaign.

"I have a legitimate question," Zyuganov said. "Why has he been isolated? Why don't we have objective information? Why is the medical commission silent?"

Key to election lies in turnout, Lebed supporters

Officials in both the Yeltsin and Zyuganov camps say voter turnout will decide the election, with Yeltsin hoping for a high turnout in Russia's major cities and Zyuganov looking for a large influx of votes from rural areas that have suffered under Yeltsin's market reforms.

A poll released Monday by the Betanelli Institute showed Yeltsin winning with 56 percent of the vote. Zyuganov had 38.5 percent, with 5 percent of voters opposed to both candidates.

Many of the undecided voters cast ballots on June 16 for former Gen. Alexander Lebed, who finished a surprising third in the first round of elections. Yeltsin promptly named Lebed head of the Russian Security Council after the election.

Lebed also appeared on Russian television Tuesday, asking for broader powers in order to solve problems "for the sake of the future."

"I don't want power for power's sake," he said. "I am not a monster ... I am a human being."

Lebed, although not specifying what powers he wanted, cited a wide range of security problems -- visa requirements, organized crime, high-level corruption -- that he intended to address.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Communists charge Russian television with election law violation

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