European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 1, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes Michael Parks How of use elections is Gorbachev s Cha Enge Fob More than a year soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev has wan cd a Strong popular mandate to give new momentum to his program of political eco nomic and social reforms to overcome the conserva list of tic communist party and government bureaucracy and to invoke the whole country in what he regards As a strategic and historic undertaking. The boost lie received from task sunday s hotly con to sled parliamentary elections appears to have Given him All that and More. I. Gorbachev no has not Only the mandate for re form that he wanted a leverage against conservatives within the party cad ship but he also has the elements of a new political system for the country. Under constitutional changes adopted at Gorbachev s urging last year the Congress of people s deputies will exercise supreme authority outrank ing even the party s Central committee it will elect about a fifth of its 2,250 members to a new supreme soviet which will become a full inc legislature. Its chairman certain to be Gorbachev himself will be the country s president with Broad executive Powers. The Point Gorbachev had declared was to create new political structures that would promote Reform break through the barriers raised against it and institutionalise the process of democratic change. Although Many of the newly elected deputies a third of whom will come directly from the party the communist youth league the Trade Union federation and a variety of other organizations arc from the Par by s vast the elections liberated them to speak for the first Lime for their constituents a new concept in the soviet Union. This will allow Gorbachev to move his Agenda for Reform out of the party and its still secret deliberations when he meets resistance there and into the Public forum of the supreme soviet where the pressure is Likely to be for bigger bolder faster actions. _ / ,.-. Hui Many of those firm supporters of Gorbachev s reforms., in fact Defeated official party candidate. Many a Cpl ies whose support Gorbachev expects in the new parliament were elected on equally Strong Anli platforms. Gorbachev now has a number of immediate political options according to soviet observers and is Likely to use All of them degrees he will Many of those regional officials who tailed to win the required popular vote of Confidence and he will probably put younger men with a More open approach in their place with orders to resolve outstanding local grievances. He will probably reorganize the Central party Structure further cutting away at the bureaucracy on grounds it has alienated the party from the country and trying to remove conservative opponents who have kept his reforms from reaching the people by adopting a Biro the style of Doris a. Yeltsin the Radical populist who captured 89 percent of the Archie Brown wwte.mikemelear.0ut the retrofit vote in a cily wide Moscow constituency he will undoubtedly try to establish Active links Between the leadership and the people through the newly elected deputies on the hottest issues such As official corruption and the bureaucratic privileges. Last sunday s stunning protest vote directed at party officials on virtually every level clearly rocked the Kremlin leadership posing the difficult ask of mobilizing the quite evident support for per Stroika and of reconciling it with the people s equally evident alienation from the party. In Leningrad for example the Region a party Secre tary Yuri Solovyev also an alternate member of the party politburo was Defeated although running unopposed. Some 130,000 voters scratched his name off their ballots in a grass roots movement with Little organization. Only 110.000 accepted his candidacy. The depth of the anti establishment sentiment was also evident in the unprecedented and numerous de feats of senior military and naval commanders notably in the far East the North and at several other key Headquarters areas. In the Baltic republics of Estonia Latvia and especially Lithuania strongly nationalist candidates were elected but with probably a greater commitment to Perc Stroika than Many party candidates. Hurried analyses Are under Way at the party s head quarters and in research institutes around the country to assess Why so Many official party candidates per haps a Quarter of those who had been officially nominated were Defeated what factors contributed to the leftward shift and what immediate Steps can be taken to restore the party s authority. The elections created As Gorbachev had hoped a new political culture one in which the people would become engaged in a political ivc and Lake in which officials would have to set out their goals and answer for their actions where there would be open debates about previously taboo issues and where All thai activity would generate the Energy needed to pull the coun try out of its prolonged crisis. As Gorbachev had hoped when he set the reforms in motion the apathy and cynicism of the past quickly disappeared As people began to believe that they would have a real voice in their future. No one was prepared for either the scope of the protest Vole or the political sophistication that enabled people to vote Down senior part officials with a mini mum of organizational Effort. That appears to have left the leadership even Gorbachev a Superb political tactician in a quandary on How to assess the elections How to use the results. La an Gilt Gorbachev merits credit for helping change rules the rules in soviet polities have been changed irrevocably by elections for the Congress of people s deputies. The soviet people As a whole have be come major actors on the political stage. They rather than the general Secretary the politburo or the secretariat of the Central committee have on this Occa Sion changed the balance of forces within the soviet Poh Lical system. This latest Slop along the Road at democratization will make it hard even for a leadership so minded to turn Back the soviet electorate to where they were Etc Mikhail s. Gorbachev cannot be entirely Happy with the overwhelming Suppon for Boris Yeltsin the subject of criticism not Only from the soviet Leader but also from Gorbachev s prime Adver sary conservative Yegor k. Migachev. Nor can Gorbachev avoid some worries Over the in tent to which electoral sup port for communist party leaders in the Baltic republics has become heavily do pendent on the degree to which they Are prepared to embrace nationalist causes. Yet the election result also presents Gorbachev with opportunities while dealing a severe blow to the More conservative elements within the Pany now Gorbachev begins to look More like a centrist within the entire soviet political spectrum. Some of the new members of the Congress of people s deputies want changes that go beyond anything Gorbachev has espoused thus far. For a politician As resourceful As Gorbachev this creates opportunities As Well As problems. The elections have demonstrated conclusively that behind the monolithic facade a diversity of opinion does exist within the soviet Union they also have demonstrated however something entirely new the Independence of to Day s soviet citizenry. When suggested some months ago that whatever the limitations of the soviet elections the very fact that Lucy were to be competitive made them a significant landmark on the path of democratization i encountered scepticism on the part of a Veteran soviet watcher Here in Britain. As he put it even if there is More Ihan on candidate everyone will know whom to vote he was right of course. People were left in Little doubt As to which candidate the local party officials intended they should support. They knew u yet they went out and voted for someone would be wrong to see these Voles As representing in any Way a United stand against the soviet establishment. People were protesting about Many different and contradictory things. Some of the implied criticism was undoubtedly aimed at Gorbachev himself for Gorba Chev enjoys a wider popularity abroad than he docs at Home. In the soviet Union people Sec the shortages of food stuffs gelling worse rather than better and some of then draw the conclusion that Gorbachev is All talk and perestroika just another slogan. Though understandable it s unfair. Only a few years ago it required great courage to act against the wishes or the Central or local party leadership. The idea of rejecting the one name on the ballot in an election of dip urics to the _ supreme soviet was unthinkable. When on sunday millions of soviet citizens crossed out the name of representatives with official backing it did not require any courage whatsoever. That is perhaps the greatest change of All. It is just one result of the process Gorbachev has set in motion. It is quite an achievement for which Gorbachev de serves recognition and res pct. Bumm of Fullil on swat Kris Tell in Titi it of
