COMMUNISTS GAIN ADDITIONAL PRESIDIUM SEAT IN DUMA.

The Duma yesterday elected five new deputy chairmen: Svetlyana Goryacheva (Communist Party of the Russian Federation), Aleksandr Shokhin ("Russia is our Home"), Artur Chilingarov (Regions of Russia ), Sergei Baburin (People’s Rule ), and Mikhail Gutseriev (Liberal Democratic party). Voting took place amid sharp controversy over maneuvering by the KPRF, which took advantage of a general agreement among faction leaders to distribute deputy chairs to representatives of all parliamentary groupings. The agreement did not exclude the party already represented by the speaker. The Communists’ nomination of Svetlana Goryacheva for a deputy chairmanship raised a storm of protest from Yabloko. Mindful that Yabloko had helped elect Seleznev (see Monitor, January 18), the majority of deputies voted without debate for Goryacheva. (8)

Rift Opens in Lithuanian Leadership.