DATE=3/20/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA ELECTION / CANDIDATES
NUMBER=5-45686
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Twelve candidates will face voters in Russia's
presidential election next Sunday. But only one,
Acting President Vladimir Putin, is given any chance
of winning. The likely second-place finisher,
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, is given only a
fair chance of forcing a runoff. V-O-A's Peter
Heinlein in Moscow reports many of the other
candidates appear to be running just for the
publicity.
TEXT: Acting President Putin chided his 11 opponents
last week, in effect questioning the wisdom of
challenging him.
/// PUTIN ACT IN RUSSIAN-ESTABLISH, FADE UNDER ///
He says, "It would be senseless to join the campaign
if you do not believe you will win."
Mr. Putin can afford such displays of confidence. As
acting president, he dominates the state-run
television channels that have a near monopoly on
Russian public opinion.
Political analysts say former President Boris
Yeltsin's shock resignation last New Year's Eve was
aimed at making 100-percent sure his chosen heir,
Vladimir Putin, would win the election to succeed him.
Nikolai Petrov of the Moscow Carnegie Center calls it
a clear attempt to subvert the democratic process.
/// 1st PETROV ACT ///
From the very beginning, it was [an] election
about how to keep the powers, not how to
transfer the power, due to Mr. Yeltsin's
resignation. And that's why the campaign is
almost invisible.
/// END ACT ///
With just days to go before the vote, there is little
evidence of a campaign on the streets of Moscow.
Television stations are broadcasting campaign ads.
But Mr. Putin rejected an offer of free airtime,
saying he finds advertising repulsive. Other
candidates, meanwhile, complain that controversial ads
are being banned.
Economist Grigory Yavlinsky, running a distant third
in the polls, says a TV commercial he prepared warning
of the dangers of a return to totalitarian rule was
rejected by the state-run channels.
// OPT // In a recent interview, Mr. Yavlinsky
explained that he ran for the presidency four years
ago in hopes of speeding up Russia's transition to a
market economy. This time, he says, he just hopes to
prevent the country from going backward to its Soviet
past.
/// YAVLINSKY ACT ///
Now we have another picture. We have a
successor who greets [takes] the power from the
deal with Mr. Yeltsin, and at that time it was a
race which was giving me a possibility to
accelerate the reforms. Now it's a race to stop
the militarization of the country.
/// END ACT /// /// END OPT ///
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, the only candidate
given a chance of making it to a second round, has
struggled to find an issue with which to attack the
frontrunner. In his latest TV commercial, the
Communist candidate paints Mr. Putin as inheriting the
corruption and decline of the Yeltsin years. And, in
an ironic twist, he also warns of a return to
totalitarianism.
/// ZYUGANOV ACT IN RUSSIAN-ESTABLISH, FADE UNDER ///
Mr. Zyuganov says, "The regime of Yeltsin's heir
brings you poverty and death, dictatorship and the
spread of violence." Mr. Zyuganov then adds, "That's
what you will face if you let them cheat you."
Other candidates echo similar themes. Konstantin
Titov, a free-market advocate and governor of Russia's
prosperous Samara region, says his campaign's main
goal is to stop a Putin takeover.
/// TITOV ACT IN RUSSIAN-ESTABLISH, FADE UNDER ///
He says, "Why am I running? Because Russia cannot be
handed down as somebody's heritage. We are not a
democracy of slaves."
But those slogans seem to have failed to catch on with
large numbers of Russian voters. Analyst Nikolai
Petrov says many Russians see Vladimir Putin simply as
a man capable of providing order, even if it means a
turn away from democracy.
/// 2ND PETROV ACT ///
The choice, which was already made, never was
the choice between more democracy and less
democracy. It was the choice between
strengthening of the state, which is symbolized
by Mr. Putin, and the further weakening of the
state, which could easily turn the country
toward chaos [and] anarchy.
/// END ACT ///
// OPT // Some political observers say the low
single-digit ratings of many of the candidates suggest
that their only interest in running is the free
television airtime they can use to promote themselves.
// END OPT //
Acting President Putin's message of a strong, proud
state is clearly dominating the electoral debate. His
opponents may cry foul, they may call him names, but
in the end they seem to be doomed to be also-rans.
(Signed)
NEB/PFH/GE/WTW
20-Mar-2000 13:59 PM EDT (20-Mar-2000 1859 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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