NEW LAW ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT SEEN AS "LITTLE CONSTITUTION."

Igor Muravyev, the deputy chairman of the Duma committee on localgovernment, told Russian television August 30 that the new lawon local authorities signed by Yeltsin this week was so importantthat it constituted a "little constitution" for thecountry. The law defines how power will be selected and organizedat the grass-roots level–among other things, it will end theappointment of executive officials there- -and, Muravyev said,it will end the administrative chaos that has reigned there duringthe last several years.

A Spanish Variant For Russian Politics?