Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post
Newsgroups: americast.wpost
From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com
Organization: American Cybercasting
Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com
Subject: Ex-Communists Win Elections In Lithuania; Surprise Result Could Put
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 92 04:30:23 EST
Message-ID: <23.1992Oct27.043023@AmeriCast.com>

Ex-Communists Win Elections In Lithuania; Surprise Result Could
Put Nationalists in Opposition<By Michael Dobbs=Washington Post
Foreign Service= MOSCOW, Oct. 26 - Former communists won an upset
victory in parliamentary elections in Lithuania today, defeating
the nationalist movement that spearheaded the Baltic republic's
drive to independence from the Kremlin.  "People have given their
support to the forces of realism and moderation," said Algirdas
Brazauskas, Lithuania's former Communist Party chief who now
heads the Democratic Labor Party, adding that the election result
had come as a surprise.

A moderate Communist who supported Lithuania's struggle to secede
from the Soviet Union, Brazauskas has called for a slowdown in
the pace of economic reform and an improvement in relations with
Russia. Political analysts attributed his party's victory to a
sharp decline in economic production and a disruption of fuel
supplies from Russia.

After the Kremlin recognized the independence of the Baltic
states in August 1991, following the collapse of a hard-line Com-
munist coup, Russia began demanding world prices for oil and gas
that previously had been heavily subsidized. As a result,
Lithuania and its Baltic neighbors, Latvia and Estonia, have been
forced to cut back sharply on energy consumption.

Apartments and office buildings in Lithuanian towns are likely to
be without heat for much of this winter, and even hospitals and
kindergartens are kept at a chilly 50 degrees. Many private cars
have disappeared from the roads because of a gasoline shortage,
and factories have been forced to send their workers on compulso-
ry vacation.

The victory of the Democratic Labor Party in the elections means
that the independence movement Sajudis probably will be forced
into opposition, even though Brazauskas offered them the oppor-
tunity to cooperate with his government. Vytautas Landsbergis,
the scholarly musicologist who angered Moscow last year by stub-
bornly insisting on Lithuanian independence, is likely to lose
his position as parliamentary speaker.

Preliminary returns released by the Electoral Commission in Vil-
nius, the Lithuanian capital, showed that the Democratic Labor
Party won 46.5 percent of the votes, while Sajudis only garnered
about 22 percent. This margin should give Brazauskas a comfort-
able working majority in the 141-member parliament. In
Lithuania's voting system, 71 seats are elected by direct vote,
and the other 70 are chosen in proportion to the number of votes
cast for each party.

A sweeping Sajudis victory in parliamentary elections in February
1991 paved the way for a dramatic trial of strength between Vil-
nius and Moscow, with Lithuania cast in the role of "the mouse
that roared." The Kremlin resorted to every weapon in its arsenal
- economic pressure, political attacks and military force - in an
ultimately fruitless attempt to persuade the Lithuanians to aban-
don their quest for independence.

Now that independence has been achieved, economic issues have be-
come paramount. Brazauskas, who trounced former prime minister
Gediminas Vagnorius in one parliamentary race, succeeded in per-
suading the voters that his party is better placed to steer the
republic of 3.8 million people through hard times than Sajudis.

For his part, Landsbergis conceded defeat but accused Russia of
using economic and military pressure against Lithuania to swing
the election. "Russia actively participated in the elections and
did not even conceal it. Its economic and political presence was
felt," he said.

The voters also approved a new constitution establishing
presidential institutions. This sets the stage for presidential
elections early next year, in which Brazauskas and Landsbergis
are likely to be the leading candidates.< 02:18 10-27C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

For more information, send-email to American Cybercasting Cor-
poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)