Communists Pick Tougher Candidate Against Yeltsin

The Soviet Communist Party leadership, determined to keep radical Boris N. Yeltsin from the Russian presidency, dropped its middle-of-the-road candidate today in favor of a more hard-line alternative.

Alexander Vlasov, initially favored to become president in voting later in the day, shocked the Parliament of the Soviet Union’s biggest republic when he announced: “Conditions require we make a choice. I withdraw my candidacy.”

The announcement followed a series of closed-door meetings by Communist Party leaders and delegates, the latest of which was held Thursday night.

Vlasov’s withdrawal appeared to open the way for a tough battle between Yeltsin, a fierce critic of Kremlin leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, and hard-liner Ivan Polozkov, Communist Party First Secretary of Krasnodar.

One remaining candidate, Valdimir Morokin from Kazan, appeared to have no chance at all.

Radicals backing Yeltsin estimated that he could count on the support of about 400 of the 531 deputies they need to win the election, to be held by secret ballot.

The result is due to be announced Saturday.

The Russian Federation is by far the largest of the Soviet Union’s 15 republics, with 147 million people out of a total Soviet population of 286 million.

Deputies said party leaders, apparently disappointed by Vlasov’s limp presentation of a report on the Soviet economy earlier in the session, decided that he could not stop Yeltsin.

Gorbachev attacked Yeltsin in a speech Wednesday, saying he sought to “excommunicate” Russia from socialism.

Presenting his manifesto, Yeltsin said that if he is elected he will be prepared to cooperate with Gorbachev, who fired him from the Politburo in 1988 for criticizing the slow pace of reform.

“I am for businesslike relations, negotiations and dialogue with the president but on a principled basis that does not damage the sovereignty of Russia,” Yeltsin told Parliament.

Yeltsin has said Russia should take greater control over its own affairs from the central Soviet bureaucracy in Moscow.

“I am not for socialism for socialism’s sake. I am for a government the people respect and for a government that respects the people.”

Gorbachev sat quietly in Parliament during the latter half of the speech.