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Kremlin loyalist wins Chechen election

By Vladimir Radyuhin

Alu Alkhanov, who won the Chechen presidential election. — AP

MOSCOW, AUG. 30. The Kremlin's candidate, Alu Alkhanov, has swept Chechnya's presidential election, vowing to bring peace and security to the violence-torn region.

Mr. Alkhanov, Chechnya's Interior Minister, garnered nearly three-fourths of the votes cast, well over the 50 per cent benchmark to be declared the winner. The election, contested by several candidates on Sunday, was generally peaceful but overshadowed by the crash of two Russian airliners last Tuesday, downed by suspected Chechen suicide bombers.

Top priorities

At his first post-election press conference, the President-elect said today his top priority was to restore peace and security to Chechnya, but admitted, "a lot of hard work lies ahead." He said his administration would also focus on reviving Chechnya's economy and creating 150,000 new jobs in the next five years. Mr. Alkhanov ruled out talks with the rebel leader, Aslan Maskhadov. "Maskhadov's only chance (to save his life) is to repent and seek pardon from his own people whom he had pushed into war," Chechnya's new leader said.

Rebels dismissed the election as farce and vowed to kill Mr. Alkhanov as they killed his predecessor, Akhmad Kadyrov, who died in a bomb blast in May, barely seven months after he was elected President.

The election is part of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin's plan to hand over responsibility for restoring peace in the war-ravaged region to Chechens loyal to Moscow.

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