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Liberals Remain Leaderless

01 December, 00:00

The Liberal Party's fifth convention on November 21 unanimously voted down Mr. Shcherban as their leader, although the "celebrity" was absent. According to Mr. Vyalov, Chairman of the Political Executive Committee, Mr. Shcherban does not take the dissenters seriously and will hold his own convention December 19. Another interesting detail: at a news conference after the convention the "dissenters" had no answer when asked what primary party organization Mr. Shcherban belonged to. Moreover, they were not sure whether he was actually a member.

The conflict among the Liberals broke out after the parliamentary elections when about a dozen heads of regional party organizations accused Mr. Shcherban of losing the campaign because of his siding with the Labor Party. Subsequently they were all expelled from the party.

When asked by The Day whether the Liberals are trying to solve their problems amicably, Mr. Vyalov said that all attempts to contact Mr. Shcherban resulted in expulsions. The convention organizers do not regard the latest developments as a split. They say that the convention was attended by "party veterans," and Mr. Vyalov estimates the "dissenters" as constituting 65-70% of the membership. "We have only one problem: our leader who holding to his post with both hands and feet," he told journalists.

PS: Mr. Shcherban called the convention a "mob gathering staged on the initiative of Vyalov, who was earlier expelled from LPU" and condemned its organizers as "the political homeless" responsible for the split and who "discredit and sell out LPU, acting under the auspices of certain political figures," reports Interfax.

Newspaper output №:

№43, (1998)

Section

Day After Day