Russia's 1996 Presidential Election: A Youth vs. Old Divide 🇷🇺

(16 Jun 1996) Russian/Nat

Sunday's election in Russia is largely being seen as a divide between young and old - the future and the past.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov is banking on a strong turn-out from older people and President Yeltsin is looking to the young to keep him in power.

Here A-P-T-V profiles a communist veteran and a doctor - both whose standard of living has fallen sharply under Yeltsin. The only difference is the former has voted Communist and the other for Yeltsin. Since Marina Petrenko voted for Boris Yeltsin five years ago, her life has undergone many changes - most for the worse.

Marina has seen her salary and living standards plummet as inflation spiralled out of control. With her husband out of work, survival has been her only thought.

But unlike millions of other Russians in her position, Marina does not want a return to the past. She voted again for Boris Yeltsin on Sunday.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"Zyuganov is a return to the past, Yeltsin means the future."
SUPER CAPTION: Marina Petrenko, Doctor

Marina is the head of the diagnostic department at one of Moscow's top neurological clinics.

Highly qualified, she used to enjoy all the benefits of one of the most valued of Soviet professions.

But Russia's healthcare system has all but collapsed leaving Marina lucky if she takes home 200 U-S dollars a month.

She became the family's only breadwinner last year when her husband was made redundant. Marina was forced to take a job as a
cleaner to make ends meet.

She says many other doctors at her clinic have also been forced to
take part-time jobs.

The little extra money she earns cleaning will help Marina finance her daughter's scholarship to an American college.

But Marina despairs of those who have lost faith with Boris Yeltsin. She expects little for herself and knows that perhaps only her daughter's generation will benefit from the present reforms.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"If people are expecting drastic changes in the course of one or
five years, I think that's stupid. It's very difficult to turn back that which went in the opposite direction for so long."
SUPER CAPTION: Marina Petrenko, doctor

Until five years ago Marina was a member of the Communist Party.

For her that is now all in the past. She is prepared to put up with all the hardships that the next few years may bring if it means a better future for her daughter.

And she is convinced it's a future only Boris Yeltsin can bring.

At the opposite end of the political spectrum, 68-year-old war veteran Zinaida Ivanovna set off on Sunday to do battle once again.

Just like fifty years ago, she believes she is fighting for the future of Russia. Today the ballot boxes are her frontline.

Zinaida is one of the nation's communist faithful, one of those described in news reports and opinion surveys as the party's "hardline" electorate.

She is one of the millions of angry pensioners, left behind by Russia's headlong plunge into market economics, on whom Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov is counting in today's presidential election.

Zinaida's vote is guaranteed.

At 13 years of age Zinaida joined the Red Army, fighting as a sniper and taking part in the liberation of her village outside Leningrad. Today her only ammunition is her vote.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
If our bourgeoise, if our millionaires attack us again with tanks I will defend myself but we don't have tanks, I'm a sniper and I don't have a gun to shoot with. I will use only my vote to defend my great motherland.





SOUNDBITE (Russian):





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