MOSCOW, DECEMBER 16: The new, Kremlin-backed Unity Bloc and the Communist Party are locked in a tight race to emerge as the leader in this weekend's parliamentary elections, according to opinion polls released this week.In a poll conducted in the first 10 days of December by the Institute for Comparative Social Research, 19 per cent of the 1,278 respondents said they would vote for the Communists on Sunday, while 17.6 per cent would choose unity, the Moscow Times newspaper said yesterday.The paper, which commissioned the poll, said that such surveys usually have a margin of error of about 3 per cent, putting the two parties in a statistical tie.According to a Romir research center poll released on Tuesday, Unity is ahead of the Communists, with 21.9 per cent compared to 17.7 per cent. The poll was conducted on December 4-5 among 1,500 people across Russia. Romir polls have a margin of error of 2 to 4 per cent.Unity,which was formed only in September, has seen its popularity explode. Headed by popular emergency situations minister Sergei Shoigu, it has cultivated an image of responsible government. Unity enjoys the backing of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and its candidates have been getting favorable and plentiful air time in Kremlin-backed media.Ratings for the Communists, who comprise the biggest faction in the current parliament, have remained more or less unchanged. Analysts say that the Communists have a loyal bloc of supporters, but that the party has trouble attracting new voters.The real battle has been between Unity and Fatherland-all Russia, which is led by Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, former prime minister Yevgeny Primakov, and Vladimir Yakovlev, mayor of St Petersburg.Fatherland-all Russia presented itself as a centrist alternative to both the Communists and to the market reformers who have worked under President Boris Yeltsin, and it vowed to combat corruption. Some polls conducted over the past few months suggested that the party, riding a wave of disillusionment with Yeltsin's administration, would win the most votes in the election.However, Kremlin-backed media have waged an intense campaign against the party, accusing Luzhkov of corruption and questioning whether Primakov, now 70, is fit enough to be in a position of power.In the Moscow Times poll, Fatherland-all Russia received 9.2 per cent. In the Romir poll, it got nine per cent.Fatherland-all Russia received a blow over the weekend when the Russian supreme court invalidated the St Petersburg city council's decision to hold elections for governor on Sunday. Incumbent governor Vladimir Yakovlev is a leader of the bloc.The council voted in October to move the election up from next June in a move that opponents said would give Yakovlev an undue advantage because his rivals would not have time to organize effective campaigns.Some 15,000 Yakovlev supporters rallied in St Petersburg yesterday to protest the decision, but the city prosecutor said the election commission must obey the supreme court ruling.
