1984 Soviet Union legislative election explained

Country:Soviet Union
Type:parliamentary
Previous Election:1979 Soviet Union legislative election
Previous Year:1979
Next Election:1989 Soviet Union legislative election
Next Year:1989
Seats For Election:All 750 seats in the Soviet of the UnionAll 750 seats in the Soviet of Nationalities
Election Date:4 March 1984
Leader1:Konstantin Chernenko
Party1:Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Image1:Černěnko.jpg
Seats1:551 / 521
Party2:Independents
Seats2:199 / 229
Chairman of the Council of Ministers
Before Election:Nikolai Tikhonov
Before Party:Communist Party of the Soviet Union
After Election:Nikolai Tikhonov
After Party:Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Seat Change2:2 / 5
Seat Change1:2 / 5

Elections to the eleventh Supreme Soviet were held in the Soviet Union on 4 March 1984.[1] They were the last in the Soviet Union to be held before Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and demokratizatsiya resulted in partially free elections in 1989. They were also the last direct elections to the Supreme Soviet, as in 1989 deputies were elected to the Congress of People's Deputies, who then elected the Supreme Soviet.

Electoral system

Candidates had to be nominated by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) or by a public organisation.[2] However, all public organisations were controlled by the party and were subservient to a 1931 law that required them to accept party rule.[2] The CPSU itself remained the only legal one in the country.[3]

Voters could vote against the CPSU candidate, but could only do so by using polling booths, whereas votes for the party could be cast simply by submitting a blank ballot.[2] Turnout was required to be over 50% for the election to be valid.[2]

Candidates

CPSU candidates accounted for around three quarters of the nominees, whilst many of the others were members of Komsomol.[4]

Results

With over 184 million Soviet citizens voting in the election, over 99% of the votes went to a deputy to the Supreme Soviet, with over 100,000 votes against Party candidates, the lowest for any election in the Soviet Union.[5]

Soviet of Nationalities

Notes and References

  1. [Dieter Nohlen]
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1630
  3. Nohlen & Stöver, p1654
  4. Nohlen & Stöver, p1631
  5. Party, State, and Citizen in the Soviet Union: A Collection of Documents, edited by Mervyn Matthews, London: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1989, p. 5-6, 16-18.