The Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg (Russian: Законода́тельное собра́ние Санкт-Петербу́рга, ЗакС) is the legislative power body of Saint Petersburg, a federal subject of Russia, which has existed since 1994 and succeeded the Leningrad Council of People Deputies (Lensovet). It is located in a historic building, Mariinsky Palace.
According to the new federal legislation, since 2005 the governor of Saint Petersburg (as well as heads of other federal subjects of Russia) is proposed by the President of Russia and approved by the regional legislature. On December 20, 2006, incumbent Valentina Matviyenko was approved governor with forty votes in favor and three votes against (Mikhail Amosov, Natalya Yevdokimova, and Sergey Gulyayev of the Democratic faction representing Yabloko [1][2][3]).
Contents |
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 [4] and new federal legislation.
| Name | Period | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st convocation | Yury Kravtsov | January 5, 1995–April 2, 1998, | Dismissed ahead of schedule |
| 1st convocation | Sergey Mironov | April 2, 1998–1999 | Acting |
| 2nd convocation | Viktor Novosyolov | 1999 | Acting, assassinated on October 20, 1999 |
| 2nd convoation | Sergey Tarasov | June 7, 2000–January 15, 2003 | |
| 3rd and 4th convocations | Vadim Tyulpanov | January 15, 2003-Incumbent |
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.
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. [1]
|
|||||||||