"THIRD FORCE" FALLS APART.

The attempt to present the Russian electorate with a credible democratic alternative to the two heavyweight presidential candidates seems to have failed. Svyatoslav Fedorov told a press conference in Moscow yesterday that it is unlikely that he, Grigory Yavlinsky, and Aleksandr Lebed will form an electoral coalition. (Interfax, May 8) Earlier, Fedorov had said the three would decide by mid-May whether to unite and who should be the single candidate for the "third force." The coalition was shaky from the start. It fell apart this week when it became clear that Yavlinsky had begun negotiations over a possible electoral alliance between himself and incumbent president Boris Yeltsin. Yavlinsky told the BBC in an interview May 8 that he was willing to strike a deal with Yeltsin and expected to meet the president soon for further negotiations. (BBC, May 8)

Zyuganov’s Election Program May Downplay Orthodox Communism…