Coronavirus Intervened The Anniversary In St. Petersburg

As you know, this year, 30 years have passed since the fount of democracy in the City on river Neva materialized. So with good reason we entitle the beginning of the Lensoviet XXI convocation.

Why do we remember this Lensoviet?

Because the Leningrad City Council of 21 convocation is rightly called the emergence of democracy not only in city on river Neva but also in Russia. It was in the spring of 1990 in Leningrad and throughout Russia for the first time that alternative elections to the Soviets were held: the Russian Supreme Council, district councils of people's deputies in cities, city and regional Soviets. Voters are invited to select their representatives from several candidates.

The Leningrad Council of 21 convocation was elected for five years, worked for only three and a half years and was dispersed by a special decree of the President of Russia in December 1993, by which time it had already dispersed all the democratic Soviets in the country.

In a difficult historical period, deputies for the most part tried to support residents in difficult times, feed them, and prevent bloody events that occurred in Moscow in 1991 and 1993.

What the young democrats in Leningrad City Council did useful to the residents of the City on river Neva?

Many and unique bills have been done. For instance.

Decision to fight corruption in government and administration (17th session, January 1993). One of the first in the country, Lensoviet-21 drew attention to corruption in government. Decision on benefits for public transport (19th session, May 1993). According to this decision, for all pensioners on all types of transport, travel has become free. Work began back in 1991, October 14, 2011. Decision No. 26 of the ninth session of the Leningrad City Council "On the procedure for disposing of non-residential funds in Leningrad" (June 1991) regulated the process of disposing of real estate in the city. The 11th session considered the draft law "On the Status of St. Petersburg", developed by a special working group, and sent it to the Supreme Council. This draft law did not become, however, work on the Charter of the North Palmyra did not stop even in 1992. The results of this work were reported at the 17th session (March 1993) and subsequently used in the final adoption of the Charter of St. Petersburg by the first convocation of the Legislative Assembly. In "Lensoviet-21" the first versions of the city constitution (the Charter of the city) were developed.For the first time in the country, a regulation was adopted on the head of the city administration (mayor) of Leningrad, which introduced the principle of separation of powers in the city's governance system (8th session, May 1991).For the first time in the country, a Human Rights Commission was established (1st session. 1990).Decision on the payment of benefits to the parents of soldiers killed in Afghanistan (15th session, October 1992).The flag and anthem of the City on 30 islands was approved (14th session, June 1992). Decision on the state of the environment in St. Petersburg (14th session, June 1992).

Why do we call the elections in 1990 were democratic.

In 1990, elections were held in the Leningrad City Council of People's Deputies of the 21st convocation. 2867 candidates ran for 400 seats (in 400 urban districts), 2501 candidates were admitted to the elections, thus, for the first time there was real competition in the elections to the City Council (on average, more than 6 candidates for 1 deputy mandate). 78% of candidates were nominated by labor collectives, 17% - social groups, 5% - meetings of voters..

Today, 4 out of 10 voters do not come to the polls in Russia!

We present a collective portrait of the deputies of the Lensoviet—XXI.

There were 19 deputies under 30 years old (birth years 1961-1967); from 30 to 40 years (birth years 1951 - 1960) - 124 people; from 40 to 50 years (years of birth 1941-1950) - 134 people; older than 50 years (years of birth 1928-1940) - 104 people. The youngest deputy was 22 years old (there were two), the oldest was 61 years old. In total, 381 people became deputies, of which 28 were women (7%).

The intellectual potential of the people elected was vast: at the time of the election, 345 deputies (91%) had higher education, 32 had secondary education and 4 were students who were in their final courses. Among 345 people there were 72 deputies with two and three higher educations.

Surprising barrier

Over 30 years, more than 80 deputies died. The living deputies meet every five years and remember the bright years of the beginning of freedom in the City on 30 islands. The quarter-century anniversary of the onset of democracy in North Palmyra in 2015, the current head of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg has forbidden to celebrate it at the Mariinsky Palace - the building where the Legislative Assembly of the City of eight hundred bridges works. This leader until 1990 was a professor of Marxism-Leninism at a military institute. Today, colonel Makarov turned into a democrat. He keep company with priests, but for some reason forbade the deputies of the Leningrad City Council to even enter the building where the Legislative Assembly of the city works. In 2020, a meeting of democracy veterans was prevented by a coronavirus. The Coronavirus shifted the commemoration in honor of the 30th anniversary of the democratic Lensovet in September.

The gala day moved, perhaps, for a few months.

A brief history of the Leningrad City Council, books of deputies of the Leningrad City Council can be found on the memorial website dedicated to the development of democracy in St. Petersburg.