DATE=2/25/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA ELECTION PREVIEW
NUMBER=5-45522
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
/// EDS: RUSSIA'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IS MARCH
26TH ///
INTRO: Russia's presidential election is just one
month away, and there is hardly any sign of a contest.
In sharp contrast to the 1996 election, won by Boris
Yeltsin after a hard-fought campaign, this time the
outcome is a foregone conclusion. The only question
is whether acting President Vladimir Putin will win in
the first round or in a runoff. V-O-A Moscow
correspondent Peter Heinlein previews an election in
which there are 11 candidates, but only one with any
chance of winning.
TEXT:
/// WOMEN SELLING GOODS ON THE STREET - FADE UNDER
///
People on the streets of Moscow these bitterly cold
days have other things on their mind than politics.
Sixty-four-year-old Anna Meshkova is bundled up
against a biting snowstorm, trying to earn a few
rubles by selling pickled cabbage to passersby.
Asked about the race for the presidency, or the lack
of one, she explains that she lived most of her life
in the Soviet Union. There, she says, voters had a
choice of only one candidate.
Ms. Meshkova suggests that after years of what many
saw as permissive rule under President Boris Yeltsin,
Russians are yearning for a return to a strong hand in
the Kremlin.
/// MESHKOVA ACT ONE - IN RUSSIAN - FADE TO
TRANSLATOR ///
We are just illiterate people. How can we elect
anybody? All we want is to live a better life.
/// END ACT ///
Ms. Meshkova says nearly ten years after the collapse
of Soviet communism, people of her generation still
have not experienced the advantages of democracy.
She says for most Russians, the quality of life just
keeps getting worse.
/// MESHKOVA ACT TWO - IN RUSSIAN - FADE TO
TRANSLATOR ///
Democracy led us all to very bad things. We have
bandits, drug addicts, alcoholics who drink and don't
work. Plants and factories don't work. What
democracy is that?
/// END ACT ///
Ms. Meshkova stops in mid-thought, as if remembering
the past, then asks, "Oh, could I be shot for giving
this interview?"
In towns and cities across Russia, opinions such as
Ms. Meshkova's are widely held. There seems to be
little objection to the belief that the outcome of
next month's presidential election is pre-determined.
Political analyst Alan Rousso of the Moscow Carnegie
Center says even though Acting President Putin has
revealed very little of himself or his political
agenda, many people see him as a person who can
restore Russia's damaged pride.
/// ROUSSO ACT ///
His popularity is based on people's need to feel
the country is on the way back up, need to feel
that the country has strong leadership, need to
feel that after having been humiliated and
embarrassed not only by its loss in the Cold
War, but its failure to transit to some other
kind of country, that they can restore their
place as a great power.
/// END ACT ///
That kind of feeling is widely held among middle aged
and elderly Russians. Many, like 74-year old
Valentina Pavlovna, believe the country is best ruled
with an iron fist.
/// PAVLOVNA ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE TO TRANSLATOR ///
I have only positive feelings toward Putin. He
is strict. Even Communist leader Zyuganov is
afraid of him.
/// END ACT ///
But the prospect of a return to authoritarian Kremlin
leadership is beginning to worry some Russians. Many
say they will simply stay away from the polls as a
protest.
Among them is 53-year-old former Soviet Air Force
officer Semyon Semyonovich. He says the rise to power
of a Yeltsin protege like Vladimir Putin only confirms
the divide between haves and have-nots.
/// SEMYONOVICH ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE TO TRANSLATOR
///
Three percent of the people have everything, and
the rest have nothing. Of course, it is
impossible to go back to the old order, but
there is nobody to vote for. He will be
elected anyway. I can vote or not. It won't
change anything.
/// END ACT ///
Thirty-four-year-old Galina Lyutikova agrees. She
says it looks just like old times coming back.
/// LYUTIKOV ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
She says, "Frankly, the election situation is
frightening." Then she adds, "I am afraid for the
future."
With one month to go before the vote, cautious
political analysts are reminding over-eager
journalists of the old saying "It's not over till it's
over." But in this case, where one candidate so
dominates the political scene, even other candidates
are grudgingly admitting that unless something
completely unexpected happens, this election is over.
(Signed)
NEB/PFH/JWH/KL
25-Feb-2000 14:00 PM EDT (25-Feb-2000 1900 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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