Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg

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Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg

Законодательное собрание Санкт-Петербурга
6th legislature
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
Leadership
Chairman of the Legislative Assembly
Vyacheslav Makarov, United Russia
since 14 December 2011
Structure
Seats50
2021 Saint Petersburg legislative election diagram.svg
Political groups
  United Russia (30)
  SRZP (5)
  LDPR (3)
  CPRF (7)
  New People (3)
  Yabloko (2)
Elections
Mixed
Last election
19 September 2021
Meeting place
Mariinsky Palace Saint Petersburg.jpg
Legislative Assembly Building
Saint Petersburg, St. Isaac Square 6, Mariinsky Palace
Website
http://www.assembly.spb.ru/

The Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg (Russian: Законода́тельное собра́ние Санкт-Петербу́рга, ЗакС) is the legislative body of Saint Petersburg, a federal subject of Russia. It was established in 1994, succeeding the Leningrad Council of People Deputies (Lensovet). It is located in the Mariinsky Palace. Its powers and duties are defined in the Charter of Saint Petersburg.

History[]

According to federal legislation from 2005, the governor of Saint Petersburg (as well as heads of other federal subjects of Russia) was proposed by the President of Russia and approved by the regional legislature. On 20 December 2006, incumbent Valentina Matviyenko was approved as governor.[1][2][3]) In 2012, following the passage of a new federal law,[4] which restored direct elections of the heads of federal subjects, the city charter was again amended.[5]

Convocations[]

  • 1st convocation: March 20–21/October 30/November 20, 1994[6]
  • 2nd convocation: December 6/December 20, 1998
  • 3rd convocation: December 8, 2002
  • 4th convocation: March 11, 2007
  • 5th convocation: December 4, 2011
  • 6th convocation: September 18, 2016
  • 7th convocation: September 2021

Elections[]

The Assembly consists of fifty seats and is elected for a five-year term. The first three convocations were formed by a single-member district plurality voting system with at least 20% participation required (except for the 1994 elections with their changing participation threshold), two-round for the first and second convocations and single-round for the third one. On March 11, 2007, the fourth elections were held using a party-list proportional representation system with a 7-percent election threshold and no required threshold of participation for the first time according to the new city law accepted by the third convocation of the assembly in 2006[7] and new federal legislation.

2011[]

See also: 2011 Russian legislative election

Elections to the 2011 legislative assembly were held in St. Petersburg at the same time as the 2011 Duma elections (4 December) and like these provoked accusations of fraud. In the event the 50 seats were distributed as follows

United Russia 20; A Just Russia 12; Communist Party 7; Yabloko 6; Liberal Democratic Party (Zhironovsky) 5.

St.Petersburg therefore was ahead in the national swing against Putin’s ‘party of power’ which had been defined by one of the opposition leaders, Alexei Navalny, as ‘the party of crooks and thieves’.

In the weeks following the elections sanctioned and unsanctioned popular protests were held in St. Petersburg against the Duma elections and those for the Legislative Assembly. The opposition called for the annulment of the elections on the grounds of widespread fraud and called for elected candidates to reject their mandates.[8]

2021[]

See also: 2021 Russian legislative election

The election was hold along with Federal State Duma elections on September 17, 18, and 19, 2021.[9]

Controversy[]

Boris Vishnevskys in 2018. He was an MP of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg at the time of the election.

While non-systemic opposition was largely eliminated from the elections, those candidates (mostly of systemic opposition) who were allowed to participate were targeted by various semi-legal intimidation or confusion techniques. The one includes "doppelganger candidates",[10] where a person of similar look and surname was put on the same ballot in order to confuse voters.[10][11] A remarkable case of  [ru], a candidate of the Yabloko party, who run in the №2 Saint Petersburg circuit with two nearly indistinguishable doppelgängers alongside was widely reported.[a] Both have changed their legal names to "Boris Vishnevsky" shortly before the elections, and returned to their original names shortly after it was finished.[20]

Speakers[]

Name Period Notes
1st convocation January 5, 1995 – April 2, 1998, Dismissed ahead of schedule
1st convocation Sergey Mironov April 2, 1998 – 1999 Acting
2nd convocation 1999 Acting, assassinated on October 20, 1999
2nd convoation June 7, 2000 – January 15, 2003
3rd and 4th convocations January 15, 2003 – December 13, 2011
5th convocations December 14, 2011 – September 28, 2016
6th convocations September 28, 2016-Incumbent

Representative to the Federation Council[]

Initially it was the speaker of the Assembly who served as member of the Federation Council of Russia representing the legislative power body of this federal subject. However, in 2000 the federal legislation changed and the duties were delegated to a separate person to be elected by the regional legislature (not necessarily among its members). Since June 13, 2001, Sergey Mironov has occupied this position until 18 May 2011.

Composition[]

Members[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Both English and Russian speaking media have reported the incident long before election even started.[12][11][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]

References

  1. ^ "ЗакС.Ру : статьи : Валентине Матвиенко дали второй срок". Zaks.ru. 2006-12-21. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  2. ^ "Работа для молодой, красивой и умной ~ Валентина Матвиенко пошла на второй срок". Kadis.ru. 2006-12-25. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  3. ^ Сергей Павлов. "Яблоко. Публикации. Выбирай себе губернатора?". Yabloko.ru. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  4. ^ "Федеральный закон от 02.05.2012 N 40-ФЗ "О внесении изменений в Федеральный закон "Об общих принципах организации законодательных (представительных) и исполнительных органов государственной власти субъектов Российской Федерации" и Федеральный закон "Об основных гарантиях избирательных прав и права на участие в референдуме граждан Российской Федерации"". garant.ru.
  5. ^ "Saint Petersburg law of 20.06.2012 № 339–59". Archived from the original on 2015-02-16. Retrieved 2017-12-23.
  6. ^ "Первые выборы в Законодательное Собрание Санкт-Петербурга". Assembly.spb.ru. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  7. ^ "Выборы - 2007 г. - Закон о выборах депутатов ЗС СПб". Assembly.spb.ru. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  8. ^ S.Chernov, 'Opposition politicians booed at electoral fraud rally', St. Petersburg Times, 21 December 2011.
  9. ^ Anna Chernova. "Russian politician faces two near-identical opponents in election". CNN. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
  10. ^ a b "Spoiled elections The BBC dissects the dirty tactics used to demoralize voters on both wings of Russia's 'systemic' opposition". Meduza. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
  11. ^ a b Kramer, Andrew E. (2021-09-17). "Fake Parties and Cloned Candidates: How the Kremlin 'Manages' Democracy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  12. ^ Russell, Martin (15 September 2021). "Russia's 2021 elections: Another step on the road to authoritarian rule" (PDF). European Parliamentary Research Service. Retrieved 30 September 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ "Three near-identical Boris Vishnevskys on St Petersburg election ballot". the Guardian. 2021-09-06. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  14. ^ "Doppelganger Dirty Trick In Russian Election Spawns Online Mockery". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  15. ^ Hannon, Elliot (2021-09-09). "Russian Opposition Candidate Boris Vishnevsky Faces Two Other Boris Vishnevskys on Ballot". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  16. ^ Times, The Moscow (2021-09-06). "St. Petersburg Election Ballot Features 3 Near-Identical Boris Vishnevskys". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  17. ^ Reuters (2021-09-07). "Kremlin critic decries doppelgangers at St Petersburg election". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  18. ^ ""Яблоко": в районах, где избираются Борис Вишневский и его двойники, частично отсутствует видеонаблюдение". Новая газета (in Russian). September 13, 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ^ "Двойники Вишневского на выборах в ЗакС Петербурга сменили не только имена, но и внешность". www.znak.com. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  20. ^ ""Чтобы в какой-то мере пошутить": "двойник" Бориса Вишневского вернул себе настоящее имя после выборов в Петербурге". Новая газета (in Russian). October 22, 2021. Retrieved 2021-10-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links[]

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