SENIOR YELTSIN AIDE SUGGESTS SHIFT OF DUMA ELECTION DATE.

President Boris Yeltsin’s senior political aide Georgi Satarov said on November 14 that "although the president wants the Duma election to be held on time, he would like to see the election law changed before the scheduled election date of December 17." Satarov said Yeltsin realized that amending the election law might delay the election by "one or two months", but that would be "less bad than having the Constitutional Court pronounce the election invalid" after it was held. Satarov made clear that the "change" Yeltsin has in mind concerns the 5 percent threshold for representation in the Duma. (3)

The idea of abolishing that barrier seems to have Yeltsin’s backing, as may be inferred from the sudden endorsement of the change by Yeltsin’s close allies Vladimir Shumeiko and Ivan Rybkin, chairmen of the two legislative chambers. Although Yeltsin’s tactics are still unclear, the move risks bringing still greater disarray to an already tumultuous election campaign.

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