DATE=12/21/1999
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=RUSSIAN ELECTION
NUMBER=6-11604
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
CONTENT=
INTRO: American daily papers are filled with comment
about Russia's parliamentary elections (12/19), but
are divided over what the results mean.
We get a sampling of these divergent views now from
_________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.
TEXT: Summarizing U-S press reaction to the
parliamentary voting in Sunday's Russian election, you
might refer to that old adage about the glass being
half full or half empty. The returns showed Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin's newly created Unity Party
scoring a strong showing against the Communists, who
got the most seats, but fewer than in prior elections.
The papers, and an array of guest columnists, are
interpreting those facts quite differently.
We begin with the opinion of New York Times
correspondent Michael Gordon, trying to make sense out
of it all from his post in Moscow. In a front-page
analysis, he ties support for the war in Chechnya to
the results:
VOICE: ... millions went to the polls and
demonstrated their support for the war ...
despite its apparent brutality, by voting for
candidates backed by Vladimir Putin, the hawkish
prime minister closely associated with the war.
Western governments, especially the United
States have run into many difficulties in trying
to deal with the new Russia: corrupt tycoons,
die-hard Communists and an enfeebled president.
But now they have found themselves squarely at
odds with the Russian public. The widespread
backing for the war ... not only reduces the
already minuscule chance for a political
accommodation in Chechnya. It also suggests a
broad shift in Russian public sentiment toward a
more nationalist, if pro-capitalist, stance.
TEXT: On the Pacific coast, The Oregonian in Portland
sees the results somewhat more optimistically, judging
a political shift away from the extremes of the
Communist left and the Nationalist right, toward the
center. But the paper also holds out a caution.
VOICE: /// OPT /// That he [President Boris Yeltsin]
and his inner circle did not [try to cancel the
election] ... and opted instead to back a
coalition of centrist parties - - should be
reassuring to Russian democrats and their
supporters abroad. [Mr.] Yeltsin's
administration may have a cooperative
legislature for the first time since the demise
of the Soviet Union, which is good news for
economic reforms. /// END OPT /// From the
standpoint of the United States, though, all of
this will be a mixed blessing. If the new Duma
is more committed to the economic principles
embraced by the United States, it is likely to
be far more critical of almost every other
aspect of American foreign and security policy.
TEXT: The Wall Street Journal in New York City also
sees progress in the very fact that the vote took
place at all, and on schedule, and had a good turnout
despite bitter cold. The Journal adds:
VOICE: More than sixty percent of the Russian
electorate came out in frigid weather to cast a
ballot, and the election appears to have been
relatively clean. Preliminary results,
moreover, show 54 percent of this vote going to
centrist or economically liberal parties. In
striking contrast, the ultra-nationalist party
of Vladimir Zhirinovsky saw its share of the
vote fall by nearly half. Indeed, reform-minded
parties such as Grigori Yavlinsky's Yabloko
Party and Anatoly Chubais's Union of Right
Forces (S-P-S) scored some surprising gains.
Though obscured by the financial shenanigans of
Russia's politicians and the prominence of its
oligarchs ... an emerging Russian middle class
does exist, and its interests lie in honest
government, low taxes and transparent regulatory
policies. Sunday's vote was a clear indication
of the growing influence of this new generation.
TEXT: However the Journal goes on to worry that the
increasingly hawkish Mr. Putin, may "pursue further
military adventures instead of tackling the much-
needed economic reforms." The business daily
concludes that it is possible the future shape of
Russia could well be molded on the battlefields of
little Chechnya.
Taking a more positive view is the Chicago Tribune,
which calls Sunday's Duma election a "milestone" in
Russia's transformation toward a democracy.
VOICE: What is emerging from this election of 450
members to Russia's Lower House of parliament is
encouraging indeed. Half of Russian voters
rejected extremes - - the communists on the
left and the nationalists on the right - - in
favor of moderate, pro-democratic parties and
candidates who favor continuing market reforms.
This central core wants a government that isn't
paralyzed by turmoil and conflict.
TEXT: USA Today, the national daily published in a
Washington, D-C suburb, agrees with the Chicago
Tribune that the Russian vote as a victory for Boris
Yeltsin's heir apparent, Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin. But USA Today feels Americans may not be
comforted by the results.
VOICE: Clearly, the election outcome cuts two ways:
There are signs of reform, but, more ominously,
there are strong portents that Russia's leaders
may retreat even further into anti-democratic
methods and hostile nationalism. ... Until
elections become expressions of voters' free,
unmanipulated choices, hopes for bringing Russia
firmly into the capitalist, democratic club will
remain as tenuous and uncertain as the results
of Sunday's election.
/// OPT ///
VOICE: The San Francisco Chronicle sees the vote more
positive than negative, suggesting:
VOICE: The results ... showed that Russian voters were
determined to move forward on reform despite the
long stretch of tough years that can fan the
passions of extremists on the right and left.
The previous two elections were dominated by
Communists and right-wing nationalists. This
time a majority of voters supported centrist
parties for [the] Duma for the first time since
the Soviet collapse. ... The positive aspect of
the results is that it could produce pragmatism
and progress on economic matters. The
unsettling side of the elections is that the
strong showing for Unity, the main centrist
party, could be interpreted as support for Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin and his management of
the war in Chechnya. .....
/// END OPT ///
TEXT: The Washington Post quotes two political
scientists as suggesting one of the most remarkable
features of the vote is that relatively free elections
are now commonplace in what was until very recently a
totally totalitarian state.
The New York Times sees "several distinct messages" in
the voting, "some more encouraging than others," with
the most heartening:
VOICE: ... a clear preference for centrists, [with
voters] selecting what may turn out to be the
first reform-minded Duma majority since the
Soviet collapse.
TEXT: The Times however, frets about the ability of
the reformist parties to form a parliamentary
alliance, a less than clean campaign, and the lack of
objective media coverage, which it wants to see
improved for the Presidential election in six months.
TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of
comment on Russia's parliamentary election.
NEB/ANG/gm
21-Dec-1999 14:49 PM EDT (21-Dec-1999 1949 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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