WORLD : Leningrad Party Leader Ousted

The Communist Party chief for Leningrad, the Soviet Union’s second largest city, has been fired like his Moscow counterpart in a new move aimed at wooing voters before local elections in March.

Boris Gidaspov was given the post of city party chief, replacing Anatoly Gerasimov, the party newspaper Pravda reported today. Gidaspov retains his job of regional party leader.

The move followed a plenum of the Leningrad party committee Tuesday, when Moscow’s party chief, Politburo hard-liner Lev Zaikov, was also ousted.

Gidaspov was elected Leningrad regional party chief in July in an attempt to restore the city leadership’s authority after several local officials were defeated in spring elections to the national Parliament.