Quote:
We can't ban the communist party. This will backfire, because Russian people are quick to feel pity for victims of oppression. -- Boris Yeltsin
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Boris Yeltsin's Popularity Drops to Single Digits
Amid continuing economic crisis, scandal and resurging ultra-nationalism, Russian President Boris Yeltsin's popularity is at an all-time low.
Start Date: 4/10/99
As if all the other troubles in Russia weren't enough, beleaguered president Boris Yeltsin must live with the ignominy of almost non-existent popularity. Beset by recent scandals, calls for impeachment and recurring bouts of hospitalization, Yeltsin now finds his popularity rating at an all-time low of 6%, according to a poll from the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion released on April 2. Of those polled, 92% said they did not approve of Yeltsin, with only 2% expressing no opinion. The poll has an error of 4 percentage points.
By comparison, Russian prime minister Yevgeny Primakov was found to command a comfortable 64% approval rating.
Russia's parliament, the Duma, was scheduled to debate Yeltsin's impeachment on April 15, 1999. Primakov himself requested a postponement of the debate, but hard-liners ignored the request. On April 9, however, the Duma did postpone a final decision on whether to start the impeachment process on April 15, saying that decision would come some days later.
In any case, observers say the impeachment drive is likely to fizzle, but even so it will undermine what little remains of Yeltsin's legitimacy.
The so-called charges against Yeltsin provide a strong indication of the reactionary mood of his main opposition. Among other things, he is accused of instigating the 1991 Soviet collapse, improperly using force against hard-line lawmakers in 1993, bringing the nation's military to ruin and waging genocide against the Russian people by pursuing economic policies that impoverished the country. In a Russia where such sentiments may represent the majority in a post-Yeltsin era, the hard-fought struggle for social reforms and integration into the global economy may founder, replaced by a stark resurgence of communism and ultra-nationalism.
In recent days, rumors have swirled around Moscow alleging that Yeltsin was about to outlaw the communist party and fire Primakov. But Yeltsin firmly denied both rumors on April 9. regarding the communists, he said, "We can't ban the communist party. This will backfire, because Russian people are quick to feel pity for victims of oppression."
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