YELTSIN VICTORY STILL FAR FROM CERTAIN.

Yeltsin’s deal with Lebed does not, however, mean that he can be sure of victory in the second round. Exit polls suggested Sunday that Lebed’s vote is likely to split in the second round, with 60 percent going to Yeltsin but 40 percent to Zyuganov. There is also a strong but at present incalculable likelihood that many of those who voted in the first round for either Lebed or economic reformer Grigory Yavlinsky, the fourth-place finisher on June 16, will vote in the second round against both Yeltsin and Zyuganov. Russian election law stipulates that if more people vote against both candidates in the second round than for them, the election will be canceled and new elections must be held in three months in which neither candidate may take part. To be sure of victory, therefore, Yeltsin now needs to strike a deal with Yavlinsky and other candidates, such as Svyatoslav Fedorov. Mikhail Gorbachev and Vladimir Zhirinovsky have both called on their supporters to vote against both Yeltsin and Zyuganov in the second round. Yavlinsky said yesterday that he was willing to talk to Yeltsin but had not yet been approached by the president’s office.

Wide Powers for Lebed and the Security Council?