President Boris Yeltsin on Monday nominated Viktor Chernomyrdin as prime minister, abandoning embattled economic reformist Yegor Gaidar for a man who went on to win easy confirmation from Russia's Congress.
The selection of Chernomyrdin, a deputy prime minister in charge of the oil and gas industry, was a nod to dominant hard-liners and moderates who have demanded that Yeltsin appoint Cabinet ministers with more experience in economic and industrial management.Yeltsin tapped Chernomyrdin after Gaidar barely survived a first round of balloting in the Congress of People's Deputies that cut the number of Yeltsin's nominees for the post from five to three.
In his downbeat speech nominating Chernomyrdin, Yeltsin said he went with a compromise candidate because Gaidar, the architect of Russia's free market reform, had proposed that he do so.
"I still continue to favor Yegor Timurovich Gaidar," Yeltsin said.
Chernomyrdin, 54, breezed through 721-172, 200 votes more than necessary.
The selection of the new prime minister capped a battle that had raged in the Congress for two weeks, plunging the government into a political crisis.
The showdown reached the boiling point Wednesday, when lawmakers rejected the 36-year-old Gaidar, whom they blame for Russia's soaring inflation and declining industrial output.
That refusal triggered a political crisis that only eased Saturday after a compromise was struck between Yeltsin and the hard-liners. The agreement provided for Monday's nominations and votes.
In accepting, Chernomyrdin said, "I am in favor of reforms, in favor of deepening reforms, but without deepening the impoverishment of the people."
His remarks drew applause from lawmakers in the Grand Kremlin Palace.
"I am ready to head the government and take our country out of the deadlock," Chernomyrdin said.
In the initial round of balloting Monday, the top vote-getter, with 637 votes, was Yuri Skokov, a moderate who is secretary of Yeltsin's Security Council. Second with 621 votes was Chernomyrdin.
Gaidar won 400 votes. Finishing fourth with 399 votes was Vladimir Kadannikov, general-director of the giant VAZ auto factory. Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Shumeiko trailed with 283 votes.