Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg

Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg
Законода́тельное собра́ние Санкт-Петербу́рга
Zakonodatel'noe Sobraniye Sankt-Peterburga
6th Legislative Assembly
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
Leadership
Chairman of the Legislative Assembly
Vyacheslav Makarov, United Russia
Since 14 December 2011
Structure
Seats 50
Political groups
      United Russia (36)
     A Just Russia (3)
     Communist Party (3)
     Liberal Democratic Party (3)
     Party of Growth (3)
     Yabloko (2)
Elections
Mixed-member proportional representation
Last election
 18 September 2016
Meeting place

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 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. Its powers and duties are defined in the Charter of Saint Petersburg.

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]). In 2012, following passage of a new federal law,[4] restoring direct elections of heads of federal subjects, the city charter was again amended to provide for direct elections of governor.[5]

Election

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 [6] and new federal legislation.

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

Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg

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-December 13, 2011
5th convocations Vyacheslav Makarov December 14, 2011-September 28, 2016
6th convocations Vyacheslav Makarov September 28, 2016-Incumbent

Representative to the Federation Council of Russia

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.

2011 Elections

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]

Members

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
  6. ↑ "Выборы - 2007 г. - Закон о выборах депутатов ЗС СПб". Assembly.spb.ru. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  7. ↑ "Первые выборы в Законодательное Собрание Санкт-Петербурга". Assembly.spb.ru. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  8. ↑ S.Chernov, 'Opposition politicians booed at electoral fraud rally', St. Petersburg Times, 21 December 2011.
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