Kremlin cuts deal with Communists

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, JAN. 19. The first session of Russia's new Parliament that opened on Tuesday with the acting President, Mr. Vladimir Putin's plea for cooperation ended in uproar when four factions walked out in protest over a behind-the-scene deal the Kremlin struck with the Communists.

The scandal broke out in the lower House, the State Duma, when three largest parties - Communists and two pro- Government groups, Unity and People's Deputy, which with allies control 285 seats in the 450-seat house - cut a deal that locked out most other factions from the sharing of the House chair and committees. They also steamrollered a decision to elect the Speaker in open, rather than secret ballot, in order to control the way their members voted.

The parties left out in the cold - the Liberal Yabloko, the Union of Rightist Forces, Fatherland-All Russia, and Russia's Regions, which together have over 130 deputies - withdrew from the race for the Speaker's post, refused to take up any Duma posts allotted to them by the ``big parties'' and walked out of the session in protest against what they described as a ``stitch-up'' between the Kremlin and the Communists.

The Communists, Unity and their allies voted 285-2 to elect the Communist candidate, Mr. Gennady Seleznyov, to the post of Speaker, which he held in the last Duma. Mr. Seleznyov has a reputation as a pro-Kremlin pragmatist capable of steering through Parliament legislation that is lobbied by the Government.

``I think what is happening now is profane,'' the former Prime Minister, Mr. Yevgeny Primakov, who is the parliamentary leader of Fatherland-All Russia, said as he withdrew his candidacy in anger. ``Duma will not be able to work constructively after this stitch-up.''

The split in the lower House came shortly after Mr. Putin appealed for cooperation between the Government and the legislature and promised that the Kremlin would not ``divide the lawmakers into `ours' and `theirs'''.

The disgruntled groups said they were giving up all responsibility for the work of the State Duma and boycotted Wednesday's meeting of the House, but said they would attend later sessions.

Analysts said the Kremlin tied up with Communists to shut out Mr. Primakov from the race for Speaker because he had refused to give Mr. Putin a word that he would not run against him in presidential elections scheduled for March 26. The acting President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, is a hot favourite to win the elections, but Mr. Primakov's participation could wreck the Kremlin's hopes that Mr. Putin will win in the very first round.

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Section  : International
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