1958 Soviet Union legislative election

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1958 Soviet Union legislative election
← 1954 16 March 1958 1962 →
All 1,378 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 1050 297
Seats won 1048 330
Seat change Decrease2 Increase33
Percentage 76.1% 23.9%
Chairman of the Council of Ministers before election

Nikolai Bulganin
CPSU

Elected Chairman of the Council of Ministers

Nikita Khrushchev
CPSU

Elections to the Supreme Soviet were held in the Soviet Union on 16 March 1958.[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 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[]

Party Soviet of the Union Soviet of Nationalities
Votes % Seats Votes % Seats
Communist Party of the Soviet Union 133,214,652 99.6 563 133,431,524 99.7 485
Independents 175 155
Against 580,641 0.4 – 363,736 0.3 –
Invalid/blank votes 798 – – 831 – –
Total 133,796,091 100 738 133,796,091 100 640
Registered voters/turnout 133,836,325 100 – 133,836,325 100 –
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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