Russia takes another faltering step towards democracy tomorrow when 106 million voters in the largest country on earth face a choice between the incumbent President Boris Yeltsin and his Communist opponent Mr Gennady Zyuganov. The option, is more complicated than a choice between democracy, and communism; Mr Yeltsin's mindset has been conditioned by his years as a Communist Party boss while Mr Zyuganov's ideology is closer to that of Imperial Russia than to the doctrines of Karl Marx.
In Mr Yeltsin's case however, democratic instincts surface from time to time. Russia's membership of the Council of Europe, her commitment of troops to the IFOR peacekeeping operation in former Yugoslavia and her applications for membership of the OECD and the World Trade Organisation, show a willingness to end decades of isolationism.
The main thrust of Mr Zyuganov's campaign has been to call for a return of Russia to great power status, for an end to the country's rampant criminality and the establishment of a more ordered society. He has not convincingly elaborated the means to achieve his aims. Many voters who supported him in the first round, particularly those in areas where the lives of ordinary people have been devastated by badly executed moves towards the market economy, did so simply because Mr Zyuganov's greatest asset in their eyes was that he was not Mr Yeltsin.
Consequently the election has polarised Russian society to the extent that the ideal of a democratic government countered by a democratic opposition and a free media is still a long way off. Russia's media - and particularly its television stations which manage to reach 98 per cent of the electorate - has been accused of extreme bias towards Mr Yeltsin not only by his opponents but by neutral observers from the Organisation for Security and Co operation in Europe. A stark choice between democracy and despotism has been given as the excuse for tilting the balance of coverage so severely in Mr Yeltsin's favour.
In recent days Mr Yeltsin's health has come once again into question. If, as now appears likely, he is elected, he may not complete his four year term. The recent arrival on the political scene of General Alexander Lebed gives cause both for hope and concern. He is a man who gets things done as witnessed by the removal from office of some of the more shadowy members of Mr Yeltsin's entourage. His instincts are bound by honour and duty to his country. He has, however, made pronouncements which have rung alarm bells in the west.
The general's views on the expulsion of religious sects such as Aum Shinri Kuo from Russia stem from a genuine revulsion towards extremist cults, but his description of Mormons as "scum" and his expressed view that suspected criminals should be "shot on the street like dogs" are alarming. General Lebed has called for the restoration of the post of vice president which would give the right of succession to a presidency which has far more powers than in any western democracy. He has yet to prove himself worthy of that post.