A mandate for change
-- no matter who wins

June 12, 1996
Web posted at: 11:45 p.m. EDT (0345 GMT)

From Correspondent Eileen O'Connor

MOSCOW (CNN) -- An elite group of men have been on the road since February, covering tens of thousands of miles within Russia. They listen sympathetically to hundreds of tales of woe, then promise millions of people that they will make it right. This is the Russian presidential campaign.

Although the field is crowded, there are only two strong contenders for Sunday's votes: incumbent President Boris Yeltsin and Gennady Zyuganov, the candidate of the Communist Party. It may come as a surprise that the Communist Party is even in contention, considering that just four-and-a-half years ago, Russians joyously brought down the Communist regime.

But many are already nostalgic about the social guarantees that Communism had to offer. Thirty percent of Russians live below the poverty line, and 10 percent reap almost 50 percent of the country's income. Boris Yeltsin's government cannot deny that it has failed to fulfill many of its promises to the people.

This time, Yeltsin is promising to spend more time on the road and to start listening to the problems of his citizens outside of the Kremlin walls. His government is often accused of being inattentive to the needs of the majority.

"Reforms have to serve someone," said Alexander Yakovlev, a former Gorbachev adviser. "We have still not found a way to balance this, and the result is a great mass of people are unsatisfied."

When he speaks to people outside the Russian capital, Zyuganov plays on their anger at being left behind in the new economy, and paints a rosy picture of the past. His constituents are mainly those on pensions or workers who are finding it impossible to adjust to the harsh realities of capitalism. They are likely to have poor job prospects, or none at all.

The Uralsky Samosvety Perfume Factory is a prime example of the stark realities reform has brought. Still not a successful company financially, it was forced to forego perfume production in favor of cheaper, more competitive items, like toothpaste. Its struggling workers say things were better under Communism, but they are afraid changing the system once again will only make matters worse.

"You can't glue together a broken cup. Now that everything has been broken, we need a new foundation. I think we have to let Yeltsin continue," said one worker.

Even if Yeltsin wins, things will not stay the same. This election has driven home to the government that while Russians may have dreamed of capitalism and democracy, they want to have it Russian-style.

Special section -- Pivotal Elections: Russia

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