1954 Soviet Union legislative election

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1954 Soviet Union legislative election
← 1950 14 March 1954 1958 →
All 1,347 seats in the Supreme Soviet
  First party Second party
  Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B0628-0015-035, Nikita S. Chruschtschow.jpg
Leader Nikita Khrushchev
Party CPSU Independent
Leader since 13 March 1953
Last election 1099 217
Seats won 1050 297
Seat change Decrease49 Increase80
Percentage 78.0% 22.0%
Chairman of the Council of Ministers before election

Georgy Malenkov
CPSU

Elected Chairman of the Council of Ministers

Georgy Malenkov
CPSU

Elections to the Supreme Soviet were held in the Soviet Union on 14 March 1954.[1]

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 party 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[]

Party Soviet of the Union Soviet of Nationalities
Votes % Seats Votes % Seats
Communist Party of the Soviet Union 120,479,249 99.8 565 120,539,860 99.8 485
Independents 143 154
Against 247,897 0.2 – 187,357 0.2 –
Invalid/blank votes 680 – – 609 – –
Total 120,727,826 100 708 120,727,826 100 639
Registered voters/turnout 120,750,816 100 – 120,750,816 100 –
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References[]

  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1642 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ a b c d Nohlen & Stöver, p1630
  3. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p1654
  4. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p1631
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