The Regional Public Fund "Information for Democracy" (INDEM) basing its figures on the results of representative sociological polls of the sociology centre "The Russian Public Opinion and the Market" (ROMIR) and the independent Agency for Regional and Political Studies" (ARPI) forecast the results of the Duma elections scheduled for December 19, 1999.

Georgi Satarov, the President of the INDEM Fund, said at a press conference on December 15, 1999, that, according to the forecast based on ROMIR data, 18-21% of the electorate will vote for the CPRF, 12-15% for the "Bear" ("Unity"), 10-13% for the "Fatherland - All Russia" (OVR), 10-12% for Yabloko, 8-9% for the "Union of Right Wing Forces" (SPS), 5-8% for "The Zhirinovsky Bloc" and 3-6% for "Our Home is Russia".

The second forecast of INDEM based on the ARPI data differs slightly from the first one: 18.6-20.4% for the CPRF (depending on different scenarios), 15.3-16.5% for the "Bear" ("Unity"), 12.4-13.4% for the OVR, 9.3-10.7% for Yabloko, 6.3-8.4% for the SPS and to 6.6% for "The Zhirinovsky Bloc".

Georgi Satarov referred to factors capable of influencing the results of the Duma elections as "coefficient of falsifications" that are as yet unknown. "If we suppose that falsifications will occur, we can suppose that this coefficient will be quite high", noted Satarov.

However, according to Satarov's forecast the new "Duma will be less hysterical, less politicised and a little more useful".

Elena Bashkirova, Director General of ROMIR, said at a press conference that only 5% of the respondents in the poll expressed a readiness to sell their votes for a specific candidate. This data was obtained in a representative sociological poll of 1,500 citizens over 18 years of age in 94 settlements of 40 federation subjects conducted by ROMIR.

Asked how they would act if they were offered money to vote for a specific candidate, 69% said that they would refuse the offer, 17% said that they would take the money but still voted for the candidate of their choice, while 9% failed to provide any answer.

Based on Interfax reports.