Congress Of People's Deputies Research Articles

The 1989 elections to the congress of people's deputies in Moscow

ON 26 MARCH 1989 Soviet citizens cast ballots for 1,500 representatives to the USSR Congress of People's Deputies (CPD). Faced with multiple-candidate elections for the first time at the national level, voters were asked to cross off, in secret, all names on the ballot paper except the person whom they wished to elect. Candidates were also forced to deal with unaccustomed choices: the complexities of running for office in competitive contests. This article analyses the campaigns of 104 candidates in Moscow's 26 territorial electoral districts and explores Soviet electoral politics from the points of view of both voters and candidates. Four questions form the core of the investigation: (1) What can be said about candidates' campaign strategies and tactics? (2) What can be said about the candidates in biographical terms? (3) What issues did candidates choose to stress? (4) Did the run-off process influence which candidates won?

The Making of Elections to the Congress of People's Deputies (CPD) in March 1989

The Making of Elections to the Congress of People's Deputies (CPD) in March 1989