IT’S UNOFFICIAL: RUSSIA’S DEMOCRATIC CHOICE SUPPORTS YELTSIN.

Russia’s Democratic Choice, the party led by Yegor Gaidar, will be represented at today’s ceremony registering Yeltsin’s presidential candidacy. Officially, the party will announce which candidate it is going to support only after its congress in May, but party leaders made it clear yesterday that for them the chief hurdle was removed March 31 when Yeltsin announced his plan to end the war in Chechnya. At the same time, party leaders expressed anger at the fact that two prominent members of the party, Sergei Kovalev and Arkady Murashev, have come out publicly in support of Grigory Yavlinsky. Kovalev has expressed dissatisfaction with Yeltsin’s Chechnya plan, which he feels does not go far enough to bring peace to the region. (Interfax, April 2)

Zyuganov Still in the Lead.