Russian Constituent Assembly election, 1917

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The elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly that were organised as a result of events in the Russian Revolution of 1917 were held on November 25, 1917 (although some districts had polling on alternate days).

The result was a clear victory for the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs) who polled far more votes than the Bolsheviks. However, the Bolsheviks had captured power in the October Revolution and they dispersed the Assembly after its first sitting - making the results of the election null and void.

Various academic studies have given alternative results but all clearly indicate that whilst the Bolsheviks were clear winners in Russia's urban centres, as well as taking around two-thirds of the votes of soldiers on the "Western Front", it was the SRs who topped the polls having won the massive support of the country's rural peasantry.

Radkey study results:

Party Votes % Deputies
Socialist Revolutionary Party 17,100,000 41.0 380
Bolsheviks 9,800,000 23.5 168
Kadets 2,000,000 4.8 17
Mensheviks 1,360,000 3.3 18
Others 11,140,000 26.7 120
Total 41,700,000

Note: The figures for Socialist Revolutionaries includes the Ukrainian Socialist Revolutionaries; whilst the Kadets includes other "rightists" as well; and the total number of deputies returned for "Others" includes 39 Left Socialist Revolutionaries and 4 Popular Socialists, as well as 77 others from various localised groupings.

Results from George Mason University Website:

Party Votes %
Socialist Revolutionary Party 17,943,000 40.4
Bolsheviks 10,661,000 24.0
Ukrainian Socialist Revolutionaries 3,433,000 7.7
Kadets 2,088,000 4.7
Mensheviks 1,144,000 2.6
Georgian Mensheviks 662,000 1.5
Musavat (Azerbaijan) 616,000 1.4
Dashnaktsutiun (Armenia) 560,000 1.3
Left SRs 451,000 1.0
Alash Orda (Kazakhstan) 407,000 0.9
Various Liberal Parties 1,261,000 2.8
Various National Minority Parties 407,000 0.9
Various Socialists 401,000 0.9
Unaccounted 4,543,000 10.2