DATE=3/27/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / RESULTS (L)
NUMBER=2-260655
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Newly-elected President Vladimir Putin will
officially take over as Russia's second post-Soviet
leader in early May. V-O-A Moscow Correspondent Eve
Conant reports international observers have declared
the election to be free and fair, but express concern
about what they call media bias and abuses during the
election campaign.
TEXT: Russian television news on Monday showed a
victorious Mr. Putin fielding personal calls from
world leaders including British Prime Minister Tony
Blair.
/// PUTIN ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
Mr. Putin says, "I thank you for your call, Tony, but
I must also thank the Russian voters for the choice
they made. There is only one way to behave, and that
is to speak openly and honestly about our problems and
how to solve them."
Mr. Putin did not seem concerned by comments from
his Communist challenger, Gennady Zyuganov, who has
accused the government of falsifying the results.
/// OPT - ZYUGANOV ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
Mr. Zyuganov says "we respect the voter's choice, and
that's why we're counting the results ourselves. We
have organized a parallel counting system because we
understand we are dealing with people who do not
follow the law." /// END OPT ///
International observers from the Council of Europe and
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe dismissed Mr. Zyuganov's claims and hailed the
election as the democratic expression of the people's
will.
The president of the O-S-C-E parliamentary assembly,
Helle Degn, called the elections free and fair, but
said the process had been questionable.
/// DEGN ACT ONE ///
Our concerns have to be mentioned. One concern
regards the fact that in some cases, candidate's
campaign organizers and supporters circumvented,
the new election law notwithstanding, the
efforts of the Central Election Commission to
enforce the election law vigorously.
/// END ACT ///
The observers would not specify the abuses mentioned
Ms. Degn added media coverage to her list of concerns.
Images of Acting President Putin dominated state run
television in the weeks and months leading up the
election, with little time for what Ms. Degn called
genuine political debate.
/// DEGN ACT TWO ///
Important segments of the media, both state-
controlled and private, failed to provide
impartial and fair information about the
election campaign and candidates.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT /// Although the observers did not monitor
the elections in Chechnya, Ms. Degn said conditions in
the war-torn republic were not acceptable for
carrying out what she called a "normal election." She
stressed that observers could not rule out the
potential for what she called "intimidation and fear"
among the Chechen population who were invited to vote.
/// OPT /// Russian news agencies said more than 60
percent of eligible voters in Chechnya, including
Russian soldiers, had come to the polls under tight
security. /// END OPT ///
The question now is whom Vladimir Putin will choose as
his prime minister and what measures he will take to
fulfill his campaign promises to revive the economy
and fight corruption. His challenges include the
ongoing war in Chechnya and appealing to the nearly
one-third of the electorate who voted for his
Communist opponent.
/// REST OPT ///
The chairman of Russia's upper house of parliament,
Yegor Stroyev, said Russians were pleased the
elections had not moved into a second round between
Mr. Putin and Communist candidate Zyuganov.
/// STROYEV ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
Mr. Stroyev says a second round of elections was not
needed for one simple reason -- "over the last ten
years we have had lots of elections and we are tired
of them." (Signed)
NEB/EC/JWH/JO
27-Mar-2000 10:41 AM EDT (27-Mar-2000 1541 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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