Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 19, 1990 TAG: 9003222358
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
Meanwhile, reformers claimed victories in crucial runoff elections Sunday in Russia, Byelorussia and the Ukraine, the Slavic heartland that accounts for 80 percent of the Soviet Union's territory and two-thirds of its population.
Pro-democracy activists in Leningrad claimed many victories in individual races and estimated they would control at least 65 percent of the city council, said Elena Zelinskaya of the Northwest Information Agency.
Communist Party officials scored some victories, she said, mostly in the "closed" electoral districts such as army bases, where campaigning is not allowed.
Activists had hoped Sunday's elections to parliaments in the Baltic republics of Latvia and Estonia, annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, would follow the lead of nearby Lithuania and bring independence supporters to power. Estonia has not yet reported any election results.
Latvia followed Lithuania in legalizing political parties several months ago. No such move was made in Estonia but several parties put forward candidates without interference. The Soviet Parliament legalized multiple political parties for the entire country last Tuesday.
In Latvia, People's Front supporters won 108 mandates to the 201-seat parliament, a large majority among the 170 legislators elected, according to initial results cited by the Soviet news agency Tass. But independence activists needed a two-thirds majority to change Latvia's constitution.
Among the newly elected lawmakers were 97 Commmunist Party members, 34 of whom were supporters of the People's Front. Party officials lost badly in the countryside but were victorious in Latvia's capital of Riga, Tass reported.
by CNB