RESULTS SUGGEST COMMUNIST VICTORY IN LATEST RUSSIAN REGIONAL ELECTION.

Provisional results from Sunday’s gubernatorial election in Amur oblast in Russia’s Far East indicate a narrow victory for the Communist challenger. The victor is Anatoly Belonogov, chairman of the regional legislature, with 41.77 percent of the vote. The incumbent, Yuri Lyashko, who had strong Kremlin backing, has 41.69 percent. Turnout was relatively low at 35 percent. (Interfax, RTR, September 23) Amur oblast belongs to Russia’s "Red Belt" and its relations with Moscow have been stormy over the past five years. The September 1 victory of the incumbent in another Red Belt region, Saratov oblast, had prompted predictions that Kremlin-approved incumbents would do well in the wake of President Boris Yeltsin’s reelection.

Far North Workers Threaten to Join Strike.