POLLS: TURNOUT IS THE KEY.

Publication: Monitor Volume: 2 Issue: 130

"If the majority do not vote, the minority will win," the pro-Yeltsin Russian mass media are warning on the eve of tomorrow’s runoff. The Public Opinion Foundation, widely acclaimed as the polling organization that made the most accurate predictions in the first round (see Izvestiya, June 20 and Nezavisimaya gazeta, June 27), predicts that, if tomorrow’s turnout is 65 percent, Yeltsin will win 50 percent of the vote and Zyuganov 46 percent. If only 60 percent of voters go the polls, the candidates will tie with 48 percent each. If the turnout is below 60 percent, Zyuganov will move into first place. (Kommersant-daily, June 29) In a poll taken 25-27 June by the VTsIOM polling organization, 59 percent of respondents said they would definitely vote in the runoff, and a further 14 percent said they would probably do so. (NTV, June 30)

Lebed Says Russia to Tighten Border Controls.