Trying to reinvigorate his lackluster campaign, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov offered Wednesday to give other presidential candidates government jobs in exchange for their support.
Zyuganov told the ITAR-Tass news agency that his invitation to Grigory Yavlinsky, Svyatoslav Fyodorov and Alexander Lebed was "a very serious and responsible move" and that he'd like to see them in what he called a "people's confidence government."He said his invitation extends to other prominent politicians, such as Stanislav Govorukhin and Sergei Glazyev.
Zyuganov - who analysts say has been thoroughly out-campaigned by President Boris Yeltsin - first floated his proposal on a campaign stop Tuesday and reiterated it Wednesday in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.
So far, all three presidential candidates have rejected his offers to form a coalition. Ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who is running third or fourth in the polls, has in recent days reiterated his willingness to join a coalition with either of the two front-runners.
"To extinguish the fear of communists and democrats, a coalition government should be formed," he told the Interfax news agency Tuesday.
Zhirinovsky said both Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin would keep their jobs under his plan.