YELTSIN WINS FEDOROV’S ENDORSEMENT; ZYUGANOV FISHES FOR LEBED’S, LOSES ZHIRINOVSKY’S.

Svyatoslav Fedorov, who won 1 percent of the vote in the first round, announced yesterday that he will vote for Yeltsin in the second round and called on his supporters to do the same. (RTR, June 19) But Yeltsin may be wrong if he thinks that, by bringing Lebed into the Kremlin, he has automatically won his votes for the second round. Lebed met yesterday with Zyuganov and, after the meeting, Zyuganov announced that, regardless of the fact that Lebed had joined the Yeltsin team, he will include Lebed in the coalition government he will put together if he wins election. (RTR, June 19) In this way, Zyuganov signaled Lebed’s supporters that their candidate will be in the government regardless of how they vote in the second round and that it is not necessary for them to switch their votes to Yeltsin for their preferred candidate to get a cabinet post. This puts Lebed in a win-win situation. So far, Lebed has indicated that he would not support a Communist government, but Zyuganov’s announcement now gives him an opportunity of bargaining for even more concessions than he has already gained. Zyuganov said he was sure that two-thirds of Lebed’s supporters would switch to Zyuganov in the second round even if no formal agreement was reached. He also said he thought that many of those who voted for Vladimir Zhirinovsky would switch to Zyuganov in the second round but that he was willing to talk with Zhirinovsky. Zhirinovsky said yesterday that he would give his support to neither candidate, but his electors are believed to be volatile and may not obey his example. (RTR, June 19)

The Search for a Successor.