Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 12, 1990 TAG: 9007120064
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
Vladimir Ivashko, the man Gorbachev picked to run the Ukrainian republic last fall, was elected to the post of deputy general secretary of the Communist Party by delegates to the 28th party congress, Tass reported, citing "trustworthy sources."
Ivashko defeated Politburo conservative Yegor Ligachev, who has been Gorbachev's most vocal hard-line critic.
In its brief report, Tass did not give any vote totals from the secret ballot held Wednesday night. The results were to be officially announced today at the congress.
Ivashko, a 58-year-old economist and engineer, will run the party's day-to-day affairs. Gorbachev, who was re-elected as party leader Tuesday, had sought a protege to handle those tasks while he concentrates on his presidential duties.
Ivashko's election gave Gorbachev a further triumph at the congress. It showed his personal strength at a congress that has been dominated the past nine days by conservatives who have criticized his reforms.
It was also a personal repudiation of Ligachev.
Meanwhile, about 500 anti-Communist demonstrators rallied on the edge of Red Square, and shook their fists at departing delegates. One man spat at a delegate, and police had to hold back many of the protesters.
"Communism, go away!" said Maya Ivanova, who described herself as a supporter of Boris Yeltsin, the reform president of the Russian republic.
The crowd, which waved czarist flags and anti-Communist placards such as "Communism is Worse than AIDS," listened to speakers through a megaphone that didn't always work. Scores of uniformed police kept protesters off the cobblestones of Red Square, and undercover agents milled at the rally's edges.
The vote Ivashko-Ligachev contest gave delegates a clear choice between giving Gorbachev a loyal deputy or saddling him with a rival in charge of day-to-day party affairs. A third candidate, Leningrad professor Anatoly Dudaryev, also was on the ballot.
Ligachev, whom eight days earlier had been applauded by the largely conservative congress for his harsh criticism of Gorbachev's policies, almost didn't make it onto the ballot for the No. 2 job.
Hours after nominations had closed, Gorbachev told the congress that the rules required a final vote certifying the ballot. Several delegates promptly rose to complain that Ligachev did not truly support Gorbachev's reform program.
The congress then voted 2,293 to 1,916 to drop Ligachev from the ballot. But other delegates immediately objected.
Ligachev, who stumbled badly when speaking to delegates and frequently forgot questions, told delegates he had worked well with Gorbachev. He spoke against allowing private property in the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev chose Ivashko to run the Ukraine, the Soviet Union's second-largest republic, when party traditionalist Vladimir Shcherbitsky retired last fall.
"It is important that these two people be close," Gorbachev said of the top party leaders.
"As much as I have before, no matter what my job, I will be working for perestroika," pledged Ivashko. "We have to do everything to renew the party and change its priorities."
Ivashko resigned the party leadership of the Ukraine this spring after he was elected president of the republic.
by CNB