WILL KARACHAEVO-CHERKESSIA GET A DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED PRESIDENT AT LAST?

The legislature in the Republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia passed a law on September 22 which will enable the population of the North Caucasus republic to elect its chief executive for the first time. An election is likely to take place next April. Alone among Russia’s republics and regions, Karachaevo-Cherkessia does not yet have a democratically elected chief executive. The republic parliament made its decision under pressure from mass meetings held in the republic capital every day for the last three weeks. The demonstrators are not satisfied with the September 22 decision, however. They worry that President Vladimir Khubiev, who has been in power since 1979, will refuse to stand down. They therefore intend to appeal over the heads of the republic authorities to President Boris Yeltsin (Kommersant Daily, Novye izvestia, September 23).

CHECHEN SECTION OF HIGHWAY COMPLETED.