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Monday, Jul 05, 2004

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International

Kremlin to gain from Communist split

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, JULY 4. A split in the Russian Communist Party over the weekend will play into Government hands by weakening Opposition protests against painful social reforms launched by the Kremlin.

The Communist Party formally split on Saturday as two rival factions held two party congresses and elected two different leaders.

The veteran Communist leader, Gennady Zyuganov, was unanimously re-elected to the post of party chairman at an `official' congress, while a `rebel' congress elected a regional Governor, Vladimir Tikhonov, as the new party leader. Both claimed to be "the sole legitimate" party leader elected by a quorum of registered delegates. It is now up to the Justice Ministry to decide which of the parties is legitimate. The Communist split is a direct upshot of the drubbing Russia's main Opposition party received in the last parliamentary elections in December 2003. Communists, who dominated the lower House, the State Duma, for much of the past decade, won barely a third of the seats they had in the 1995-1999 Parliament.

Mr. Zyuganov, who turned 60 last week, has come under growing pressure to step down, blamed for the Communists' declining support. According to a survey taken last month, the Communist Party has the backing of 8 to 9 per cent of Russians, down from 12 per cent a Communist candidate polled in the presidential vote in March, and 36 per cent Mr. Zyuganov garnered in the 1996 race against the then President, Boris Yeltsin.

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