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Soviet Union [USSR] Congress of People's Deputies
In 1989 the Congress of People's Deputies stood at the apex of
the system of soviets and was the highest legislative organ in the
country. Created by amendment to the Constitution in December 1988,
the Congress of People's Deputies theoretically represented the
united authority of the congresses and soviets in the republics. In
addition to its broad duties, it created and monitored all other
government bodies having the authority to issue decrees. In 1989
the Congress of People's Deputies, however, was largely a
ceremonial forum meeting only a few days a year to ratify and
debate party and government decisions and to elect from its own
membership the Supreme Soviet to carry out legislative functions
between sittings of the congress. Other responsibilities of the
Congress of People's Deputies included changing the Constitution,
adopting decisions concerning state borders and the federal
structure, ratifying government plans, electing the chairman and
first deputy chairman of the Supreme Soviet, and electing members
of the Constitutional Oversight Committee.
In the elections that took place under the 1988 law on electing
deputies to the Congress of People's Deputies, several candidates
were allowed to run for the same office for the first time since
1917. Nevertheless, no party except the CPSU was allowed to field
candidates, and a large bloc of seats was reserved for CPSU members
and members of other officially sanctioned organizations. In the
Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian republics and to a far lesser
degree in the Belorussian Republic, however, popular fronts, which
were tantamount to political parties, fielded their own candidates.
The regime maintained that these elections demonstrated that the
Soviet people could freely choose their own government.
The Congress of People's Deputies that was elected in March
through May 1989 consisted of 2,250 deputies--1,500 from the
electoral districts and national-territorial electoral districts
and 750 from officially sanctioned organizations, including the
CPSU. In all, 5,074 individuals were registered as candidates. A
main election was held in which 89.8 percent of the eligible
voters, or 172.8 million people, participated. Following the main
election, runoff elections were held in districts in which a
candidate failed to obtain a majority of the votes cast in the main
election. Runoff elections took place in 76 out of 1,500 electoral
districts. Repeat elections were also held in 198 electoral
districts where less than one-half of the eligible voters in the
district voted. Official organizations also held elections in which
84.2 percent of the eligible voters, or 162 million people,
participated. Five repeat elections were for organizations. Of the
2,250 deputies elected, 8.1 percent were newly elected to the
legislature.
The CPSU has used several means to exercise control over the
activities of the legislative system. Since 1964 the chairman of
the Supreme Soviet's Presidium has been a member of the Politburo,
and other members of the Presidium have sat on the party's Central
Committee. In addition, since 1977 CPSU general secretaries have
usually held the post of chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme
Soviet, although Mikhail S. Gorbachev, at first, did not hold this
post. Also, the party has had a large role in determining which of
the elected deputies would serve as deputies in the Supreme Soviet.
As part of their own nomenklatura authority, local party
organizations have selected candidates to run in the elections. The
commissions and committees, which had some power to oversee
government policy, have accepted direction from the CPSU's Central
Committee departments and their chairmen, and a large proportion of
their memberships has consisted of CPSU members. In the Congress of
People's Deputies elected in 1989, about 87 percent, or 1,957
deputies, were members or candidate members of the CPSU.
Data as of May 1989
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