Surprises as map turns blue runr sChange Political map

Russian elections: Yeltsin wins series of important battles; Zyuganov fails to make inroads

The preliminary results of the Russian election show the map turning from red to blue, as the vote for Boris Yeltsin picked up across the country. The comparison is with legislative elections in December 1995, when Mr Yeltsin was not a candidate, but Our Home is Russia backed his policies.

In the map representing last year's results, black represents Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democrats, pink represents Grigoy Yavlinsky's Yabloko, and yellow, other parties. All but one of these regions voted for Yeltsin. Early results showed him ahead on some prize turf: Krasnoyarsk Territory, Ivanovo, Novgorod, Tomsk, Irkutsk and elsewhere.

The Communists have not substantially increased their traditional 25 million-strong core support, despite a strong showing in Russia's red belt and some surprise success - notably, Tatarstan.