December 18, 1995
Web posted at: 12:45 p.m. EST (1745 GMT)
From Correspondent Siobahn Darrow
MOSCOW (CNN) -- In what could be seen as an ironic twist, Russians who voted Sunday in the country's second parliamentary elections since the collapse of the Soviet Union used their democratic privilege to give a boost to the Communist Party.
Preliminary results show the Communists took more than 22 percent of the vote in elections for the 450-seat Duma, Russia's parliament. Ultra-nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky's party came in a surprise second with more than 11 percent of the vote.
More voters than expected turned out, and international observers said the elections were free and fair, with only a few irregularities.
The success of the communists and nationalists was a rebuke to the government of President Boris Yeltsin and his economic reforms. The government party, Nash Dom Rossya, or Our Home is Russia, had only 9.5 percent in preliminary results. The liberal reform party Yabloka was fourth.
The triumphant leader of the Communist Party held a press conference in Moscow to promise his party would create a good environment for investors perhaps worried by the communists' big showing. Gennady Zyuganov also said the election results show that Russians want to an end to the reforms, which have been hard on them, with paychecks often running late and crime and corruption growing.
Diplomats caution that it is too soon to be alarmed that the communism of old will take hold. "I think the encouraging things about this election are that probably 65 percent of the Russians voted, up from around 52 percent of the voters last time," said the U.S. ambassador to Russia, Thomas Pickering. "(And) look at the opposition to democracy and reform. Last time, it was about 43 percent of the vote. This time it may be less, even though some of it has swung over to the communists."
Forty-three parties vied for seats in the parliament. Only those getting more than five percent of the vote will get seats. None of the parties will rule outright because none won a majority. The party vote determines only half of the Duma's members. The others are elected individually, and many candidates were running as independents, allowing them to align themselves with any party once they are seated.
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