WITH two thirds of the votes counted in the Russian presidential election, Mr Boris Yeltsin was well on his way to winning second term in the Kremlin, but there was continued concern about his health.
Mr Yeltsin had 54.6 cent to 39.4 for his communist rival, Mr Gennady Zyuganov's 39.6. With results from the "red belt", south and west of not due until later today, computer predictions gave Mr Yeltsin a 52-41 victory.
More than five per cent of the electorate, and as high as eight per cent in some areas, chose the "third box", in which Russians can vote against both candidates. The turnout was 67 per cent.
Mr Anatoly Lukyanov, the eminence grise of the Communist Party, stopped just short of conceding defeat, saying: "We have to be calm about the situation, which is the result of propaganda. Mr Yeltsin got 10 times as much air time. It was the same in the first round, so it was easy to predict a result like this. The Bloc of Patriotic Forces will hold on to its supporters and looks to the future calmly."
The deputy leader of the communist party, Mr Valentin Kuptsov, said the voting had been substantially fair and urged communists to stay calm. Mr Zyuganov cancelled a scheduled late night press conference.
Mr Yeltsin clocked up huge victories in some areas. In Moscow he was predicted to win 78 per cent against 18 for Mr Zyuganov and in the second city, St Petersburg, he scored 74 per cent to his rival's 20. Mr Zyuganov was ahead in the industrial regions of southern and western Siberia.
While western observers welcomed Mr Yeltsin's victory there were still major worries about his ability to survive a further four years in office.
These fears were heightened yesterday morning when Mr Yeltsin, who had disappeared from public view for almost a week, failed to turn up to vote at his local polling station.
CNN broadcast unconfirmed reports that he was suffering from angina, but this may have been due to a misinterpretation, as "angina" in Russian means "sore throat", the official version of the President's illness.
Waiting in the wings is the country's new security chief, Gen Alexander Lebed, who finished third in first round of voting on June 16th. Gen Lebed has called for the restoration of the vice presidency with its automatic right of succession in the event of illness or death.
Right across the country, from the sparsely populated regions across the Bering Straits from Alaska to the Kaliningrad enclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, it was clear that Mr Yeltsin's ploy of co opting Gen Lebed to his team was paying dividends.
This is expected to strengthen, the general's hand in the infighting which will start before Mr Yeltsin nominates his new cabinet. But western governments, and the United States in particular, have expressed concern about announcements in which he described Mormons as "scum" "scum" and called for strict limits on the admission of foreigners to Russia. Under pressure he has rowed back on his more extreme statements.
With a power hungry general at his back, perhaps Mr Yeltsin might be wise to heed the words of the Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Mr Boris Nemtsev, who early this morning said: "The president should not go on holidays."
