Party Chief in Lithuania Elected Republic President

Lithuania’s Communist Party chief was overwhelmingly elected the republic’s president today in a clear endorsement of his defiant stand toward Moscow and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Algirdas Brazauskas was elected 228 to 4, with 19 abstentions, by the republic’s Supreme Soviet legislature, Tass press agency reported.

The republic’s Supreme Soviet also voted to limit voting rights for military personnel, requiring them to have lived in Lithuania for at least 10 years, said Eduardas Potasinskas, a journalist for Lithuanian TV. The measure in effect restricts voting in local elections Feb. 24 by servicemen to those from Lithuania or a few long-serving soldiers and sailors.

Brazauskas, 57, faced two alternative candidates: national Legislator Kazimeras Motieka and Romualdas Ozolas, a leader of the pro-independence group Sajudis.

Potasinskas said the vote will “strengthen the position of Brazauskas in dealing with Moscow.”

Brazauskas backed the Lithuanian party’s decision Dec. 20 to break away from the national Communist Party, the first such break since the Communists took over in Moscow in 1917.

Gorbachev, who had denounced the move, visited Lithuania from Thursday through Saturday to try to persuade Lithuanian Communists to reverse their decision.

The Lithuanians refused to budge, and Gorbachev failed to end the schism. He concluded his visit Saturday by saying he saw “no tragedy” in a multiparty system--a change from his previous unconditional call for a one-party system.