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That was just the first in a series of moments of surprise and spontaneity that rocked the historic convention, which continues this week. No sooner did Gorbachev rise to chair the session than a delegate stepped forward to challenge the agenda, which had been set in a rump party session the day before by 446 delegates. "Please, People's Deputy Andrei Dimitreyevich Sakharov," invited Gorbachev as the stoop-shouldered Nobel Peace laureate -- his country's best-known dissident -- took the microphone. Sakharov, who only 2 1/2 years ago was enduring exile in the city of Gorky, expressed concern that the Congress was ceding too much legislative power to the smaller, indirectly elected Supreme Soviet. With the Congress preparing to elect a President to a newly restructured and more powerful office, Sakharov urged that the leading candidate, Gorbachev, be required to defend his record. "I do not see any other person capable of leading our country, but my support is conditional," said Sakharov. "I believe that discussion is necessary and that the candidates should give a report."
Gorbachev heard far blunter words than Sakharov's as the day wore on. Leonid Sukhov, a driver from Kharkov, stunned the assemblage by comparing Gorbachev "to the great Napoleon, who fearing neither bullets nor death, led the nation to victory, but owing to sycophants and his wife, transformed the republic into an empire." Marju Lauristin, a prominent Estonian nationalist, asked who in the ruling Politburo "knew in advance that troops would be used in Tbilisi." Others complained about Gorbachev's failure to improve his people's standard of living and mentioned rumors that he is building a fancy dacha for himself on the Black Sea in Crimea. Even the man who stood up to nominate Gorbachev for President, author Chingiz Aitmatov, did so with a few cavils. Gorbachev, he said, had made "serious mistakes," notably a failure so far to turn around the country's faltering economy and to keep a lid on ugly ethnic rivalries.
In the end, Gorbachev did indeed give a "report," an emotional and apparently extemporaneous 21-minute speech. Confronting and denying some of the allegations against him, he insisted, "During my entire life, neither I nor my family has had or has a dacha of our own." But he also owned up to "major mistakes and serious miscalculations" in managing the economy. Above all, Gorbachev stressed his commitment to the democratic process. "We must respond to all the questions, even the painful ones."
Despite such grandiose tributes to democracy, Gorbachev's candidacy was uncontested -- the first hint that the Congress was not out to rock the boat. An attempt was made to draft the popular Yeltsin, but he withdrew his name, citing party discipline. Leningrad engineer Alexander Obolensky, 46, a | political unknown, nominated himself -- not because he had any illusion of winning, he explained, but "to set a precedent" of contested elections. By 1,415 to 689, the assembly voted to keep Obolensky's name off the secret ballot. Gorbachev was elected President with 95.6% of the vote; 87 delegates voted against him.