PRESIDENT Yeltsin, in a victory broadcast to the Russian people, has given strong hints that communists will be coopted into his new government. He also announced that he had asked Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin to remain gas Prime Minister.
His communist opponent, Mr Gennady Zyuganov, conceded defeat yesterday, accepting the will of the electorate but accusing Mr Yeltsin of unprecedented misuse of funds during the campaign.
Mr Yeltsin has now become the first democratically elected president of an independent Russia, having, in his previous incarnation, been elected as President of the Russian component of the Soviet Union. With most of the votes counted from Wednesday's second round of elections, he had gained 53.55 per cent against 40.55 for Mr Zyuganov.
In the first round, Mr Yeltsin garnered 35 per cent of the vote against Mr Zyuganov's 32, but a key alliance with the nationalist Gen Alexander Lebed, who had taken almost 15 per cent of the first round votes, clinched victory.
Appearing on television yesterday after his success had been confirmed, Mr Yeltsin, looking healthier than in recent broadcasts, hinted at a possible alliance with his defeated opponent.
Having thanked the Russian electorate for their support, he said: "Let us not divide the country into the victorious and the vanquished", adding that in a new government there would be a "place for all those whom you trust".
A coalition government of the type called for by Mr Zyuganov is unlikely, but leading communists are expected to be invited to fill cabinet positions as "experts" in particular fields.
At a Moscow news conference yesterday, Mr Chernomyrdin echoed the President's view, saying that "high professionals representing various political trends" should be included in a new cabinet, which the constitution stipulates must be formed following a presidential election.
An invitation to join the government is also likely to be given to Mr Grigory Yavlinsky, the liberal democrat who finished fourth in the first round. Yesterday Mr Yavlinsky said he would join a government which ended the war in Chechnya, altered details of the course of economic reforms and put human rights as its highest priority, a point sure to rankle with Mr Yeltsin's more authoritarian associates.
Mr Zyuganov still has a key role to play in Russian politics. He gained some 30 million votes on Wednesday and was supported by a significant majority of the population in key regions such as industrial areas of Siberia and the southern and western parts of European Russia known as the "red belt".
More significantly, the State Duma (lower house of parliament) has been communist controlled since the elections of December 1995. The Duma is a weak body in comparison to western parliaments, but it has the capacity to delay key legislation, including the appointment of a new prime minister.
Observers from the Organisation for Security and Co operation in Europe (OSCE) yesterday declared the voting procedure to be free and fair, but expressed strong concern over Mr Yeltsin's media dominance.
