Yeltsin Defeats Effort by Opponents to Delay Russian Presidency Election

Russian Federation leader Boris N. Yeltsin defeated efforts by hard-line opponents Tuesday to postpone a June 12 ballot in which he is expected to be elected president of the republic.

Communist Party members tried to postpone the election until August in an apparent attempt to shatter the month-old alliance between Yeltsin and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and regain the upper hand in federation politics.

But Yeltsin and his allies appeared in control at the opening session of the Russian Federation Congress of People’s Deputies at the Kremlin. The deputies are meeting to amend the constitution and pass legislation defining the new presidency and rules for being elected to it.

The Yeltsin forces won a 452 to 433 vote, with 22 abstentions, to consider the legislation before amending the constitution. The presidency law needs only a simple majority to pass, whereas the amendments require a two-thirds vote.

Yeltsin’s aides predicted they would gain enough momentum by passing the legislation to win the more difficult votes on the constitution.

Voters in the federation overwhelmingly endorsed the presidency in a March 17 referendum.

The Russian president will have power to issue decrees, with approval of Russia’s legislature, and will have broadened executive powers to put measures into effect. However, the president will not have the same sweeping power at the republic level that the national legislature has given Gorbachev.