In April 2020, 30 years have passed since the beginning of the Lensovet 21 convocation. The living deputies meet every five years and remember the bright years of the emergence of parliamentarism in Capital of white nights. COVID-19 prevented this year from drinking a glass of wine about the thirtieth anniversary of democracy.
A significant event in the city on the Neva (St. Petersburg, Russia) was postponed due to fear of coughing bats! A gala dinner for the thirty years of the beginning of the work of the democratic Leningrad City Council (Lensoviet) was postponed for an indefinite period.
Because the Leningrad City Council of 21 convocation is rightly called the apparition of democracy not only in Capital of white nights 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: city and regional Soviets, district councils of people's deputies in cities, the Russian Supreme Council. Voters are invited to select their representatives from several candidates. And it was enough for people just to move forward and register as a candidate for deputy.
The St. Petersburg City Council of People's Deputies of the 21st convocation ceased to exist, having worked for 1361 days. "Lensoviet — 21" continues to live.
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 did the deputies of the Leningrad City Council useful to the residents of Leningrad?Many unique deeds are done. For instance.
For the first time in the country, a Human Rights Commission was established (1st session. 1990).The flag and anthem of St. Petersburg was approved (14th session, June 1992). Decision on the state of the environment in St. Petersburg (14th session, June 1992).Decision on the payment of benefits to the parents of soldiers killed in Afghanistan (15th session, October 1992).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. In "Lensoviet-21" the first versions of the city constitution (the Charter of the city) were developed. Work began back in 1991, October 14, 2011. 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).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 city 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.7th session: decision on the allocation of land to residents of the city.
Why do we call those 1990 elections 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). The elections were held in 2 rounds: turnout in the first round amounted to 63%, in the second - 58% (an unattainable dream for today's election).
This means that the majority of Leningrad residents participated in the appointment of their representatives.
We present a collective portrait of the deputies of the Lensoviet — 21.In total, 381 people became deputies, of which 28 were women (7%).
The intellectual potential of the people elected was immense: 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.
Over the years more than 80 deputies died. The living deputies meet every five years and remember the bright years of the emerging of popular power in Cradle of Three Revolutions. The quarter-century anniversary of the Leningrad City Council 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 on 30 islands works. This politician until 1990 was a professor of Marxism-Leninism at a military institute. Today,, this man, in the recent past, a communist 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 Chinese cough shifted the commemoration in honor of the 30th anniversary of the democratic Lensovet for several months.
A brief history of the Leningrad City Council, books about deputies of the Leningrad City Council can be found on the memorial website dedicated to the development of democracy in St. Petersburg.
The anniversary shifted, in all likelihood, for a few months.
