MOSCOW -- Even before the final votes were counted, President Boris Yeltsin was ready to proclaim democracy the winner of Sunday's Duma election.
"Whatever are the elections outcomes, this is the people's choice", Yeltsin said as the results continued to be tallied. And it certainly appears that the president's assessment is correct.
Right up to the last minute, many here questioned whether the election would even take place. Given the weakness of the current regime, some observers had predicted the Kremlin would cancel the vote for a new parliament rather than face a humiliating defeat by the opposition. The ongoing military operation in Chechnya was viewed as a likely -- and convenient -- excuse to cancel the elections.
Therefore, considering that Russia doesn't have a long history of democratic traditions and free elections, the very fact that elections took place at all should be seen as a success.
And an analysis of the preliminary results offers more good news for reformers. The voter turnout was much higher than expected, possibly indicating that people are not as "fed up with politics" as some had feared and were ready to send new faces to the country,s parliament.
For the first time in the post-Soviet Russia, over 75 percent of the voters supported centrist forces and political parties oriented towards democratic ideals and free-market economy. Until now, the executive and legislative branches had been controlled by opposing political forces, leading to permanent political turmoil. Following Sunday,s vote, however, there appears to be areas of broad political consensus between the parties that will comprise the majority in the next Duma and the Kremlin leadership. This gives rise to hopes for political stability, progress in economic reforms and the final liberation from communism.
There are 450 seats in the Duma. According to Alexander Veshnyakov, chair of the Central Electoral Commission, at least 317 new members were elected outright Sunday. The remaining seats will decided by runoff elections. But it,s already clear that there will be six major factions in the news Duma. Only one of them will be the Communists; the other five are either centrist or right-of-center parties.
Here's how power is likely to be apportion in the news Duma:
-- The Communist Party, led by Gennady Zyuganov:111 seats;
-- Yedinstvo, or the Unity pro-government political movement, lead by acting Minister for Extraordinary Situations Sergey Shoigu: 76;
-- Fatherland/All Russia parties, led by former prime-minister Yevgeny Primakov and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov:62;
-- Union of Rightist Forces, led by yet another ex-prime minister Sergey Kirienkov: 29;
-- Yabloko, led by Grigory Yavlinsky's Yabloko: 22;
-- Vladimir Zhirinovsky's liberal democratic bloc:17.
Given the size of the majority that advocates of reform will enjoy in the new Duma, some experts here are already proclaiming the election results the "final victory of capitalism in Russia."
Finally, the election results can be seen as a personal victory of the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Most believe that Putin's public support of both the Unity and Union of Rightist Forces on the eve of the election played an important role in the electoral success.
The outcome only serves to confirm Putin's position as the front-runner for next June,s presidential elections, where he is expected to face Primakov as they seek to replace Yeltsin and lead Russia into the 21st Century.
Mikhail Dobrov is an independent journalist in Moscow.