Zyuganov Secures Communist Nomination in Russia 🇷🇺

(15 Feb 1996) Russian/Nat

Russian President Boris Yeltsin's chief rival in the presidential race is the Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, who today received the nomination of the Communist bloc.

With just four months to go to elections, Zyuganov is the firm favourite to win the race against an ailing Yeltsin.

Fresh from victory in parliamentary elections in December, the Communist Party voted on their choice to run for the top prize in Russian politics - the presidency.

There were no surprises - leader Gennady Zyuganov was the unanimous choice.

He's expected to formally accept the nomination on Thursday or Friday.

Before the vote, one of the delegates called for unity among the various Communist groups.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"The necessity of unification of all Communist and patriotic forces is dictated as I see it with the peculiarity of the situation in the world."
SUPER CAPTION: Viktor Anpilov, Leader of labour Russia Movement

Opinion polls show the Communist Party leader has a healthy lead over Yeltsin.

The Russian president's popularity has plummeted after he imposed economic reforms, and ordered the army into Chechnya.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"The result of the June elections will be determined not by speeches, but by actions, strong control and well a considered plan of action. Time of empty promises is over. The idea of our pre-election programme is quite simple: we don't have to talk about ourselves but we have to make sure that media and people are talking about us. We are going to help everybody who wants to do honest work, who wants to rebuild our country. Fairness, security and independence is out motto."
SUPER CAPTION: Gennady Zyuganov, leader of Communist party and presidential candidate.

The Communists are clearly happy with their choice of candidate.

But victory for Zyuganov in the June 16th presidential election is by no means assured.

And the Communist Party still has a lot of work to do to win much-needed votes.

Zyuganov has been trying to assure Russian voters and Western investors that his party doesn't envision a return to Soviet-style authoritarianism.

But many will take a lot of convincing.

There is no doubt that incumbent President Boris Yeltsin is facing a more difficult struggle for the presidency this time around.

But nobody is writing him off and Zyuganov will still have a tough battle on his hands.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"Yeltsin is a serious opponent because they'll throw everything behind him both here and abroad. So it will be a very serious and difficult battle."
SUPER CAPTION: Anatoly Lukyanov, Delegate

With four months still to go before the election, all the candidates still have some campaigning to do, while no one is yet looking like a sure-fire winner.

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