RFE/RL: Etnicity and Russian presidential elections
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Subject: RFE/RL: Etnicity and Russian presidential elections
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RFE/RL: Etnicity and Russian presidential elections
RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL Russian Election Report
No. 3 (11), 17 March 2000
News and Analysis of the 2000 Russian Presidential Election.
CAMPAIGN STRATEGY AND RHETORIC
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ZYUGANOV TO NOTE ETHNICITY ON OFFICIAL ELECTION POSTER. Gennadii
Zyuganov has won a battle for the right to declare his nationality on
the official election poster that will hang in all Russian polling
stations on 26 March. The Central Electoral Commission is preparing
that poster and initially refused Zyuganov's request to include his
ethnicity in the information about himself. Zyuganov then accused the
commission of trying to deny his constitutional rights and ban the use
of the word "Russian." In a statement, Zyuganov explained that "The
[ethnic] Russian question is one of the most painful issues in current
public life. Russians turned out to be the most oppressed people in
their own country." ("Sovetskaya Rossiya" published the full text of
Zyuganov's statement in its 10 March issue.)
The Central Electoral Commission reversed its decision after learning
that other candidates did not object to Zyuganov's request, chairman
Aleksandr Veshnyakov told RFE/RL's Moscow bureau on 15 March.
Veshnyakov emphasized that the commission had never sought to prohibit
Zyuganov from identifying himself as an ethnic Russian on any of his
own campaign materials.
Very few Russians are likely to read the posters when they go to
polling stations on 26 March. But by raising the issue, Zyuganov is
again making overtures to a part of the "patriotic" electorate he has
periodically courted over the last five years. As in previous election
campaigns, Zyuganov primarily discusses the "Russian question" when
speaking directly to his supporters at rallies or in pro-communist
newspapers. When addressing a broader audience, as in televised
monologues, Zyuganov rarely, if ever, mentions his ethnicity (see the
speech transcribed in "RFE/RL Russian Election Report," 10 March
2000). LB
..............
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Copyright (c) 2000. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
RFE/RL Russian Election Report is prepared by Laura Belin on the basis
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