Russian lawmakers cast ballots Friday night in a vote to determine whether populist Boris N. Yeltsin would become president of the Soviet Union's largest republic. Yeltsin, a onetime Gorbachev ally ousted two years ago as Moscow Communist Party chief after calling for faster reform, gained a double boost Friday. Russian deputies and Soviet media praised a key campaign speech he made, and the candidate backed by President Mikhail S. Gorbachev withdrew. But Yeltsin, 59, needs backing from 531 of the 1,059 members of the Russian Congress, more than he himself has estimated he could count on. Official results from voting late Friday are expected by Saturday morning. The candidate backed by Gorbachev, Russian premier Alexander Vlasov, withdrew from the race after it became clear he lacked Yeltsin's popularity. Vlasov's departure left Ivan Polozkov, a Communist Party chief from the southern Russia city of Krasnodar, as Yeltsin's main rival. The third remaining candidate, aviation instructor Vladimir Morokin, did not appear to have any chance of winning. Russia, by far the largest of the Soviet Union's 15 republics, comprises more than two-thirds of the country's territory. It is home to half the Soviet populace. A Yeltsin victory would mean an important setback for Gorbachev, who has clashed repeatedly with his former protege. Gorbachev spoke out Wednesday against Yeltsin's plan for increased Russian autonomy, claiming it would mean ``the breakup of the Soviet Union.'' Yeltsin, however, pledged Friday that if elected, he would defend the republic from Moscow interference while not letting personal conflicts interfere with his Kremlin dealings. ``I am for business-like relations, dialogue and negotiations with the president and the government, but on the principle that Russia's sovereignty is not damaged,'' Yeltsin told the Russian Congress. The Russians use the term ``sovereignty'' to mean increased autonomy _ not secession. With his bass voice booming through the hall of the Great Kremlin Palace, Yeltsin pressed a point-by-point program on promoting for Russian sovereignty, unleashing market forces, increasing housing and flooding stores with consumer goods. ``Vremya,'' the nightly news program on state-run Soviet television, gave Yeltsin high marks for his platform. ``Having heard all the contenders, I can say his program for the rebirth of Russia came off the best-argued and thought-through,'' the Vremya report said. ``The people believe in Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin,'' deputy Nina Sivova told the Congress. ``His great force of will is needed today.'' In an early indication of Yeltsin's plans if he wins, his speech blasted the government program announced Thursday for a transition to a free market economy. He said it had ``already created panic in the stores today.'' Instead, he backed an alternative program involving sale of government property, full independence for enterprises, more liberal laws on ownership and foreign loans. Yeltsin is already a member of the national Congress of People's Deputies and a member of the Communist Party Central Committee. He has made a remarkable political comeback from disgrace two years ago, when he was ousted from his post as Moscow party chief and ostracized by the Kremlin elite, including Gorbachev. Yeltsin has continued to level public blasts of criticism at Gorbachev for his ``halfway reforms.'' If no one wins more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round, the election goes into a runoff between the top two vote-getters.
Russian lawmakers cast ballots Friday night in a vote to determine whether populist Boris N. Yeltsin would become President of the Soviet Union's largest republic. He needs backing from 531 of the 1,059 members of the Russian Congress. A Yeltsin victory would mean an important setback for Gorbachev who spoke out against Yeltsin's plan for increased Russian autonomy. Yeltsin has made a remarkable political comeback from disgrace two years ago when he was ousted from his post as Moscow Party Chief. PHOTOGRAPH BY: