Frail Yeltsin sweeps to a convincing victory

Boris Yeltsin, frail in health but indomitable in spirit, was sweeping to an emphatic victory last night in Russia's presidential election, opening a two figure lead over his Communist challenger, Gennady Zyuganov.

A tension-filled election day that began with the president compelled by illness to remain out of public view ended in triumph as the pro-Yeltsin vote cascaded in from the Russian Far East, Siberia and the Urals.

With more than 40 million votes counted, or about 55 per cent of the national turnout, Mr Yeltsin led Zyuganov by 54.4 per cent to 39.5 per cent.

About 5.4 per cent of voters had cast their ballots against both candidates, according to Russia's Central Electoral Commission. It became evident that Mr Zyuganov could not overturn the president's lead, even though the Communist candidate had been ecpected to perform well in the so-called "Red Belt" regions of southern Russia where nostalgia for the Soviet Union remains widespread.

Mr Yeltsin was expected to win heavily in Moscow, St Petersburg, his home town of Yekaterinburg and other big cities. It was an enormous personal success for the President, who was languishing near the bottom of opinion polls only six months ago but who fought an energetic campaign in May and June, recalling his heyday in 1989-91 as the conqueror of Communism.

The price in terms of damage to his health appears to have been high, and pro-Yeltsin Western governments cannot be confident that the 65-year- old president will survive a full four-year second term in office.

Variously reported to be suffering from a cold, a sore throat or a campaign- induced loss of voice, Mr Yeltsin threw the world into a state of confusion and suspense by failing to keep a morning appointment to cast his ballot at his usual polling station in western Moscow.

Embarrassingly, Mr Yeltsin's staff had escorted four busloads of television crews and reporters to watch the president in action for the first time since he dropped out of public sight one week ago.

After two hours the Russian Prime Minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, arrived to announce that Mr Yeltsin had already cast his ballot at Barvikha, a village outside Moscow where the president recuperated from his two heart attacks last year.

Campaign aides later disclosed that Mr Yeltsin's doctors had advised him at the last minute not to make the trip into Moscow. In a brief appearance filmed by Kremlin cameras and passed to Russian television networks for nationwide broadcast, Mr Yeltsin looked in control of his faculties but stiff and uncomfortable as he urged citizens to vote.

"All of you, absolutely all of you, come along, don't forget your duty," he said. Enough Russians did so to ensure that the faces of Mr Yeltsin's campaign staff were wreathed in smiles as the votes began to be counted. Crates of champagne were opened at his campaign headquarters as it became clear that Russia had escaped the uncertainties of a Communist victory.

Mr Zyuganov's campaign chief, Valentin Kuptsov, all but conceded defeat when he said: "We are categorically against stirring up tension. The situation on 4 July should be calm, irrespective of the election result."

While millions of provincial Russian voters appeared relatively unconcerned by the president's fragile health, to those in the know in Moscow and St Petersburg it was a more disturbing business. That is principally because of the rise to prominence of General Lebed.

Mr Lebed has made clear he sees himself as Mr Yeltsin's natural successor and has shocked reformist opinion with a series of bellicose threats to shake up Russian society. If Mr Yeltsin, were to become seriously incapacitated, Mr Lebed would almost certainly make a bid for supreme power. Mr Zyuganov made one last attempt to capitalise on the president's illness: "Apparently his state of health is not very good. He has not seen any of his closest aides in the last few days," he said.