Russia's main pro-reform bloc has narrowed the gap with the ultranationalist party led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky but still remains a distant second in parliamentary voting, election officials said Monday.
More than a week after Russians voted on Dec. 12, final election results still have not been released. Election workers are continuing to sift through the mounds of paper ballots cast in the multiparty voting.With 214 of 225 constituencies reporting, Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party led with 23.2 percent of the votes, followed by Russia's Choice with 15.74 percent and the Communist Party with 11.89 percent.
Last Friday, Zhirinovsky had 23.5 percent, Russia's Choice 14.8 percent and the Communists 13.3 percent.
The final figures will determine how the parties split 225 of the 450 seats set aside in the State Duma for party candidates. Another 225 seats are reserved for candidates elected on an individual basis.
Russia's Choice is expected to pick up enough seats in the individual races to give it the largest number of seats of any bloc in parliament, but it likely will be far outnumbered by opponents of Yeltsin's political and economic reforms.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
58% OK constitution
Russia's first post-Soviet constitution was adopted by 58.4 percent of those who cast ballots in a nationwide referendum Dec. 12, the Central Election Commission announced Monday.
It said 58.2 million people, or 54.8 percent of Russia's 106 million registered voters, participated in the vote.
President Boris Yeltsin called a vote on his draft constitution after disbanding the hard-line parliament Sept. 21.
The constitution, which replaces a 1978 document that was amended hundreds of times, greatly strengthens Yelt-sin's powers as president and guarantees the right of private land ownership, free speech and religious freedom.