1991 Leningrad municipal election

Last updated

The 1991 Leningrad municipal elections took place on June 12, 1991 [1] in the city of Leningrad (modern-day Saint Petersburg), located in the then-Soviet republic of Russia. The elections included the city's first popular mayoral election and a non-binding referendum on whether to change the city's name to its historic name of "Saint Petersburg". The elections coincided with the 1991 Russian presidential election.

Contents

Roughly two-thirds of the city's approximately three million eligible voters participated in the election. [2]

Background

The election coincided with the first (and ultimately only) round of the 1991 Russian presidential election, which was won by Boris Yeltsin. The coinciding presidential election was first-ever popular election of a Russian leader. [3] Also coinciding with the election was a mayoral election in Moscow and a presidential election in Tatarstan. Additionally coinciding was a referendum in Sverdlovsk on renaming their city to its former name of "Yekaterinburg". [4]

The election was the first ever popular election of a city administrator in the city's history.

Mayoral election

1991 Leningrad mayoral election
June 12, 19911996 →
  Anatolii Aleksandrovich Sobchak (3x4).jpg 3x4.svg
Candidate Anatoly Sobchak Yuri Sevenard
Percentage65%25%
Chairman of the City Council before election

Anatoly Sobchak
Independent

Elected Mayor

Anatoly Sobchak
Independent

Chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak (an independent politician) was elected the city's first popularly-elected mayor, winning 65% of the vote against Communist city council member Yuri Sevenard.

Before the election, Sobchak had been the chairperson of the Leningrad City Council.

Sobchak was considered to be a liberal. He was a former member of the Communist Party, but had left the party the previous year. [5] Sobchak was considered a like-minded reformer to Yeltsin, and was politically associated with Yeltsin. His victory, along with the similarly strong victory (also over 65%) of fellow Yeltsin ally Gavriil Popov in the coinciding Moscow mayoral election, were a boon to Yeltsin's political mandate. [3] [6]

Sobchak and allies had called for more tractors and fewer tanks to be produced at Soviet government-operated defense plants in the Leningrad area. He also hoped to see municipally-owned enterprises of the city privatized through methods included outright sales, long-term leases, and the creation of joint-stock companies owned by employees. He also supported making the city a free economic zone which would lure foreign manufacturing and service companies to the area through tax concessions and exemptions from customs duties. In May 1991, Boris Yeltsin gave his support to this plan. [1]

Sobchak, during his campaign, supported renaming the city to its former name of "Saint Petersburg". He also called for removing Lenin from his mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square, saying that Lenin should be buried in Leningrad/Saint Petersburg alongside his mother and sister. [1]

The most significant candidate that Sobchak faced was Yuri Sevenard, the Communist Party's candidate. [2]

CandidateDescriptionResults [7] [8]
Anatoly Sobchak Chairman of Leningrad City Council65% [9]
Yuri Sevenard Member of the City Council, director of Lengidroenergospetsstroy industrial construction association25%

Name change referendum

55% of voters supported restoring the city's name to "Saint Petersburg". The referendum was non-binding, as only the Communist-dominated national parliament had the authority to implement a name-change. [3] [6]

When the city was founded in 1703, it had been known by the name "Saint Petersburg", but had been renamed to "Petrograd" in 1914 and again to "Leningrad" in 1924, five days after the death of the inaugural leader of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin. [1] After exhaustive lobbying by anti-Communist groups, the Leningrad City Council agreed to hold a referendum on changing the city's name to "Saint Petersburg". [2]

Debate over the name-change, ahead of the referendum, touched on the very value of Soviet identity. Bolsheviks, communists, and many war veterans opposed a name change as both attacking the ideals that had shaped their lives, and as an insult towards the suffering endured in the Battle of Leningrad. [3] The prospect of renaming drew particular anger from many survivors of the Siege of Leningrad. [1] Contrarily, reformers, intellectuals, Russian nationalists, and opponents of Communism felt that the name Saint Petersburg reflected Russian excellence and favored dropping the name "Leningrad", which they saw as identified by a system the felt had been repressive. [3] The greatest opposition was reportedly from voters over 65 years old, while the greatest support was from voters under the age of 30. [2]

Alexei II, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, supported the name change. [8] Other supporters of the name-change included then-city councilman Dmitry Mezentsev. [1]

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had spoken out ahead of the referendum against the prospect of renaming the city, declaring that "there are neither moral nor political grounds" to rename the city. [3] [10] The June 1991 elections in Russia were seen as a blow to Gorbachev, also seeing the election of Yeltsin (whose coalition was critical of Gorbachev's policies) as president. [3] John Rettie of The Guardian suggested that Gorbachev's remarks opposing renaming may have encouraged voters to actually vote in support of renaming the city. [10] Deputy Mayor of Leningrad Vyacheslav Scherbakov also spoke against the potential name change. [1]

Among the arguments local Communists, led by Leningrad party leader Boris Gidaspov, used against the name-change was that it would be very costly to change the city's name on signs, stationery and equipment. [1] They also argued that it would dishonor survivors of the Siege of Leningrad. [2]

Renown Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn argued that all Russians, not just Leningrad residents, should be allowed to vote on the matter of changing the city's name. He also expressed concern that the name "Petersburg" was in violation of linguistic and historical traditions, suggesting Petrograd and Svyato-Petrograd as Russified alternatives to the more Germanic "Petersburg". [1]

The 55% result in support of renaming the city was not predicted by pre-election polling. [5] Political observers had believed it might fail to pass. [1] Pre-election polls had shown the electorate near evenly-split, [2] showing the referendum likely to be defeated by a narrow margin. [10]

In its similar coinciding referendum, the residents of Sverdlovsk voted in support of renaming their city to its historical name of "Yekaterinburg". [4]

The Associated Press called the result, "a strong blow to the legacy of Lenin". [6] Scott Shane of The Baltimore Sun called the result, "potent symbol of the popular rejection of the 1917 revolution and its legacy." [10]

The name of the city was reinstated as "Saint Petersburg" later that year.

Name change referendum
CandidateVotes %
Support name-change55%
Oppose name-change43%

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991 Soviet coup attempt</span> Failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev

The 1991 Soviet coup attempt, also known as the August Coup, was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet President and General Secretary of the CPSU at the time. The coup leaders consisted of top military and civilian officials, including Vice President Gennady Yanayev, who together formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP). They opposed Gorbachev's reform program, were angry at the loss of control over Eastern European states and fearful of the New Union Treaty, which was on the verge of being signed by the Soviet Union (USSR). The treaty was to decentralize much of the central Soviet government's power and distribute it among its fifteen republics; Yeltsin's demand for more autonomy to the republics opened a window for the plotters to organize the coup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1996 Russian presidential election</span>

Presidential elections were held in Russia on 16 June 1996, with a second round being held on 3 July 1996. It resulted in a victory for the incumbent Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who ran as an independent politician. Yeltsin defeated the Communist Party of the Russian Federation challenger Gennady Zyuganov in the second round, receiving 54.4% of the vote. Yeltsin's second inauguration ceremony took place on 9 August 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anatoly Sobchak</span> Russian politician (1937–2000)

Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak was a Russian politician, a co-author of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, and the first democratically elected mayor of Saint Petersburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991 Russian presidential election</span>

Presidential elections were held in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) on 12 June 1991. This was the first Russian presidential election in the country's history. The election was held roughly three months after Russians voted in favor of establishing a presidency and holding direct elections in a referendum held in March that year. The result was a victory for Boris Yeltsin, who received 58.6% of the vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991 Ukrainian independence referendum</span>

A referendum on the Act of Declaration of Independence was held in Ukraine on 1 December 1991. An overwhelming majority of 92% of voters approved the declaration of independence made by the Verkhovna Rada on 24 August 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marina Salye</span> Russian politician (1934–2012)

Marina Yevgenyevna Salye was a Russian geologist and politician, being the former deputy of the legislative assembly of Leningrad. She was also a people's deputy in the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR until September 1993, when the congress was dissolved. Salye was one of the leaders of the radical pro-reform group called Radical Democrats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Saint Petersburg</span>

The city of Saint Petersburg was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May 1703. It became the capital of the Russian Empire and remained as such for more than two hundred years. Saint Petersburg ceased being the capital in 1918 after the October Coup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decommunization in Russia</span> Limited process of the removal of communist symbols

Decommunization in Russia is the process of dealing with the communist legacies in terms of institutions and personnel that tends towards breaking with the Soviet past. Compared with the decommunization efforts of the other former constituents of the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union, it has been restricted to half-measures, if conducted at all.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1990 Russian Supreme Soviet election</span>

Legislative elections were held in the Russian SFSR in March 1990 as part of the regional elections across the Soviet Union. The first round was held on 4 March, and the second round on 14, 17 and 18 March. Members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) won 920 of the 1,068 seats, although several were supporters of the Democratic Russia movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic</span> Communist political party in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

The Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, was a communist political party in the Russian SFSR. The Communist Party of the Russian SFSR was founded in 1990. At this point, the Communist Party of the Russian SFSR being the republican branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, organized around 58% of the total Communist Party membership. Politically, it became a centre for communist opponents of Gorbachev's leadership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boris Yeltsin</span> President of Russia from 1991 to 1999

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as the president of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1961 to 1990. He later stood as a political independent, during which time he was viewed as being ideologically aligned with liberalism.

Democratic Russia was the generic name for several political entities that played a transformative role in Russia's transition from Communist rule. In 1991–1993, the Democratic Russia Movement was the largest political organization in the country and Boris Yeltsin's base of political support.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic</span> Soviet republic from 1917 to 1991

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, previously known as the Russian Soviet Republic and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia, was an independent federal socialist state from 1917 to 1922, and afterwards the largest and most populous constituent republic of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1922 to 1991, until becoming a sovereign part of the Soviet Union with priority of Russian laws over Union-level legislation in 1990 and 1991, the last two years of the existence of the USSR. The Russian SFSR was composed of sixteen smaller constituent units of autonomous republics, five autonomous oblasts, ten autonomous okrugs, six krais and forty oblasts. Russians formed the largest ethnic group. The capital of the Russian SFSR and the USSR as a whole was Moscow and the other major urban centers included Leningrad, Stalingrad, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Gorky and Kuybyshev. It was the first socialist state in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1989 Soviet Union legislative election</span>

Legislative elections were held in the Soviet Union on 26 March 1989 to elect members of the Congress of People's Deputies, with run-offs on 2, 9 and 20 April and 14 and 23 May. They were the first partially free nationwide elections held in the Soviet Union, and would be the last national elections held in that country before its dissolution in 1991. The elections were followed by regional elections in 1990, which would be the last regional elections to take place in the country.

The following lists events that happened during 1991 in the Soviet Union and Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidency of Boris Yeltsin</span> Boris Yeltsins years as President of Russia

The presidency of Boris Yeltsin began with his first inauguration on 10 July 1991, and ended on 31 December 1999 when he announced his resignation. A referendum held on 17 March 1991 approved the creation of the post of president of Russia; Yeltsin was elected Russia's first president in a presidential election held on 12 June 1991.

Mikhail Gorbachev, a former president of the Soviet Union and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, ran in the 1996 Russian presidential election. Gorbachev's candidacy was beset by the obstacles of both minimal media coverage and a high level of disdain towards him amongst the Russian populace. Gorbachev's candidacy ended in defeat during the first round of the election. The effort was the first and only electoral campaign of Gorbachev's post-Soviet political career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boris Yeltsin 1991 presidential campaign</span>

The 1991 presidential campaign of Boris Yeltsin, was the successful campaign by then-Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Russia in Russia's first presidential election. Yeltsin ran as an independent candidate. His running mate was People's Deputy and former soldier Alexander Rutskoy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuri Sevenard</span> Russian politician (1935–2021)

Yuri Konstantinovich Sevenard was a Russian politician. A member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, he served in the State Duma from 1993 to 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">De-Leninization</span> Political reforms to dismantle the cult of Vladimir Lenin

De-Leninization is political reform aimed at refuting Leninist and Marxist–Leninist ideology and ending the personality cult of Vladimir Lenin. Examples include removing images and toppling statues of Lenin, renaming places and buildings, dismantling Lenin's Mausoleum currently in Red Square, Moscow, and burying his mummified corpse.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Gray, Malcoln (10 June 1991). "'Leningrad' under siege | Maclean's | June 10, 1991". Maclean's | The Complete Archive. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brumley, Bryan (13 June 1991). "Voters: Give The Party a slap" . Newspapers.com. Times-Advocate (Escondino). The Associated Press. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Schmemann, Serge (14 June 1991). "YELTSIN IS HANDILY ELECTED LEADER OF RUSSIAN REPUBLIC IN SETBACK FOR COMMUNISTS". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  4. 1 2 "On This Day in 1991 Boris Yeltsin Elected President". The Moscow Times. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  5. 1 2 Shane, Scott (14 June 1991). "Yeltsin wins Russia's first free elections Leningrad voters back name change to St. Petersburg". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 "Reform dominates election" . Newspapers.com. The Olympian (Olympia, Washington). The Associated Press. 14 June 1991. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  7. ↑ "Real Boris Yeltsin finally standing up" . Newspapers.com. Arizona Republic. The New York Times. 14 Jun 1991. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  8. 1 2 "Election" . Newspapers.com. Tyler Morning Telagraph. The Associated Press. 14 Jun 1991. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  9. ↑ Как выбирали в 1991-м, Kommersant (11 June 2016)
  10. 1 2 3 4 Rettie, John (14 June 1991). "Leningrad becomes St Petersburg – archive, 1991". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.