
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 27, 1993                   TAG: 9304270126
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Medium

YELTSIN'S WON, BUT NOW WHAT?

As the extent of his victory at the polls became evident Monday, President Boris Yeltsin played his cards close to the vest while his opponents busily went about declaring that it hadn't been a victory at all.

In doing so, they made it clear that great political battles still lie ahead.

Ruslan Khasbulatov, leader of the Russian Congress, said that in capturing 59.2 percent of the vote (according to nearly complete tallies) Yeltsin had merely brought the divisions of society closer to the surface.

"Nobody should have any illusions," Khasbulatov said. "There were no winners or losers."

Alexander Rutskoi, the vice president and one of Yeltsin's newest and bitterest foes, noted that the number of voters opposed to the president, added to those who did not vote at all, totaled almost 70 million people, which he described as a striking lack of support for Yeltsin.

Rhetoric aside, Yeltsin's won slightly more support from the electorate than he had when he was elected president in 1991.

He also won an endorsement of his economic reform program - with 53.6 percent of the vote in the 79 regions that have reported out of 88 regions altogether - on a question that had been designed by his foes specifically to embarrass him and his Cabinet.

Yeltsin's aides said he was analyzing the results, and planning what to do next.

The voters gave him solid backing, but the referendum questions on whether they supported him and his program dictated no results or consequences. He can take his victory and make of it what he will.

Two other questions asked voters if they wanted early elections for the Congress and the presidency, and both fell short of the absolute majority of all registered voters that they needed to carry.

Yeltsin's allies insisted Monday that he move quickly to capitalize on his showing.

Sergei Yushenkov, a leader of the reform faction within the legislature, said the president should push for a new constitution that would do away with the Congress, and step up the pressure for further economic reform.

The point, though, is that Yeltsin will have to do battle with Khasbulatov and his other opponents if he is to bring about such changes. He must either defy them - what Isakov meant when he referred to "unconstitutional actions" - or persuade them they have no choice but to go along.

by CNB