Russia to Vote on Electing President by Popular Ballot

The Parliament of the giant Russian republic voted Thursday to hold a referendum next month on whether to create a popularly elected presidency of the republic, a move that could further undermine the authority of Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

The plebiscite on the Russian presidency is one of several questions that will be added to the ballot when Russian citizens go to the polls on March 17 for an unprecedented referendum on the future of the Soviet Union.

“Do you think it necessary to introduce the post of the president of the Russian Federation, elected by popular ballot?” reads the question that the deputies decided to include.

The leading candidate for the post of Russia’s first directly elected president would be Boris Yeltsin, a populist ex-communist who is generally regarded as Gorbachev’s principal political rival. Yeltsin currently holds the lesser position of chairman of the republic’s Parliament, although he is given the courtesy title of Russian president.

If Yeltsin succeeds in becoming president of Russia by popular vote, he would have a strong political power base from which to challenge Gorbachev. Although he was elected Soviet president last March by the Congress of People’s Deputies, Gorbachev has never faced voters in a contested election.

The feud between the two leaders has heated up in the last few weeks, with Gorbachev portraying his rival as an irresponsible politician bent on achieving supreme power. Yeltsin has accused the Soviet president of waging war against the republics and becoming a hostage to hard-line Communist Party politicians.