OFFICIAL COMPLAINT LODGED OVER MEDIA BIAS.

Supporters of Communist party leader and presidential candidate Gennady Zyuganov have lodged an official protest with the Central Election Commission concerning alleged violations of election regulations. The complaint says that "60 percent of television airtime has been devoted to the activities of incumbent president Boris Yeltsin." The Speaker of the Duma, Gennady Seleznev, told journalists yesterday that, as a recognized leader of the Communist party, he has been declared "persona non grata" by the Moscow TV channel (MTK) for the duration of the election campaign. He said MTK had found repeated pretexts to postpone an interview that he had been scheduled to give, not as a Communist party leader but in his capacity as head of the legislature. Saying the postponement was clearly politically inspired, Seleznev called it "further proof that the mass media in this country serve only one person — Boris Yeltsin." (Interfax, June 4)

Zyuganov Tries To Coopt The "Third Force."