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p A key token of the democracy of any state is its electoral system and the way the elections are conducted. For this reason we shall lead off by describing how the Soviets are elected. The fundamental principles of the Soviet electoral system are given in the Constitution of the U.S.S.R.

p The procedure of electing higher and local organs of power is described in detail in the corresponding electoral laws (called Regulations for Elections to the Soviets) adopted on the basis of the Constitution.

p Elections in the U.S.S.R. take place in an atmosphere of mutual trust, friendship and co-operation, for there are no classes endeavouring to pressure the electors.

p The Soviet electoral law imposes no restrictions on the electorate and does not divide citizens into privileged or underprivileged. Every person who has reached the age of 18 is free to participate in the political life of the country. The electoral system ensures the right of all citizens freely to express their will. Thanks to its genuinely democratic nature and as a result of the growth of the population and its increasing political activity, the number of people 82 taking part in elections has increased more than threefold since the establishment of Soviet rule.

p In 1917, less then 37 million people took part in the elections to the Soviets; in 1937, this number rose to 91 million, and in 1966, more than 144 million electors went to polls.

p Elections have become a truly nation-wide affair. Tens of millions of people and a large number of mass organisations and societies take part in preparing and conducting them. Important work is carried out by members of election commissions, authorised representatives, agitators and propagandists. The almost 100 per cent attendance at the polls convincingly proves that the election campaigns are genuinely popular. The overwhelming majority of the electors cast their votes for the candidates of the bloc of Communists and non-Parly people, thus strikingly demonstrating the community of interests of the Party and the people and the solidarity of Ihe masses in their support of the Communist Party.

p It must be said that the electoral system did not remain unchanged throughout the 50 years that have passed since the Revolution. It evolved towards fuller democracy.

p In the period when the exploiting classes were fiercely resisting the new Soviet system, when the peasantry was a multimillion mass of individual peasants, each working on his own plot of land and when the country was just beginning to tackle problems of socialist construction, the elections were conducted in such a way as to ensure the plentitude of power of the working people.

p At that time the exploiters were disfranchised. Although this restriction applied to not more than two or three per cent of the population, the Soviet Government nonetheless repeatedly pointed out that it was a temporary measure aimed at countering the efforts of the reactionary classes to restore their rule at all costs. In this connection Lenin used to say that in other countries where the socialist revolution will be victorious it will not be necessary to deprive the exploiters of political rights, whereas in Russia this measure was dictated by the foreign intervention and the Civil War.

p In those years elections to the Soviets were conducted in such a manner as to secure a certain advantage for the working class over the peasantry in the rates of 83 representation. Only the local—village and town—Soviets were elected by direct vote, whereas the higher organs of state power were elected by several stages. At all elections, the deputies were elected by a show of hands. After socialism had triumphed in the U.S.S.R., the exploiting classes had been abolished and the bulk of the peasants had joined collective farms, the need for such restrictions disappeared completely.

p Principles of the Soviet electoral system. The 1936 Constitution of the U.S.S.R., reflecting the profound changes that had taken place in the class structure of Soviet society, further democratised the electoral system by introducing universal, equal and direct suffrage with secret ballot.

p Elections of deputies are universal. This means that all citizens who have reached the age of 18, irrespective of race, nationality, sex, religion, education, domicile, social 84 origin, property status, or past political activity have the right to vote in the election of deputies, with the exception of persons who have been legally certified insane.

p Every Soviet citizen who has reached the age of 18 is eligible for election to a local Soviet, a person who has reached the age of 21 is eligible for election to the Supreme Soviet of a Union or Autonomous Republic, while the minimum age for a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. is 23. The slightly higher minimum age for deputies to the Supreme Soviets is dictated by the need to elect to the higher legislative organs persons possessing adequate experience.

p The universal character of the franchise in the U.S.S.R. is ensured by the way the elections are organised and conducted, namely, by holding elections on a non-working day, by compiling registers of voters, by the formation ol constituencies, by providing voting facilities for persons who are away from their permanent place of residence on polling day, by making it a crime to prevent citizens from exercising their electoral right. The establishment of universal suffrage and provision of guarantees ensuring its observance make it really possible for all Soviet citizens without exception to vote in the elections.

p Indeed, Soviet citizens widely use their right to vote. Suffice it to cite the following figures: in the 1937 election to the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. 96.8 per cent of the electorate went to the polls, in 1946, 99.2 per cent, in 1950, 99.7 per cent, in 1954, 99.8 per cent, in 1958, 99.7 per cent, in 1962, 99.95 per cent and in 1966, 99.94 per cent.

p Elections of deputies are equal. This means that each citizen has only one vote and can be registered in only one register; all constituencies electing deputies to a given Soviet are equal; all citizens—men, women, Party members, nonParty people, citizens serving in the armed forces, people of any nationality, and so forth—participate in elections on an equal footing; no separate groups of the population, individual citizens, areas or regions enjoy privileges over other groups, individuals or areas. This is precluded by the way the elections are organised and conducted.

p Elections of deputies are direct. This means that all Soviets, from the rural Soviets to the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., are elected by the population by direct vote.

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p The electors know whom they are electing and can themselves decide whether to vote for or against a candidate.

p Direct vote makes for direct and closer contact between the electors and the candidates. It also facilitates electors’ control over the activity of deputies and increases the latter’s responsibility to the electorate. Practice has shown that the direct and personal election of deputies steadily improves the work of the representative organs.

p All deputies are elected by secret ballot. Suffrage by secret ballot is guaranteed by the Regulations for Elections to the Soviets, which require electors’ booths at polling stations, forbid the presence of any person, including members of the electoral commission in a booth occupied by an elector for the purpose of filling in his ballot-paper, and allow an elector who is unable to fill in his ballotpaper personally either because he is illiterate or physically handicapped, to invite any other elector into his booth.

p Moreover, there are no markings on ballot-papers to ascertain for whom one or another elector had cast his vote.

p Electoral procedure in the U.S.S.R. How are elections organised? In this connection, of primary importance are voters’ registers, for if they are incorrectly drawn up a person may be accidentally prevented from taking part in the voting. Voters’ registers include all people, with the exception of persons legally certified insane, who have reached the age of 18 and who are living (either permanently or temporarily) in a given constituency.

p These registers are drawn up very carefully. In the rural districts they are compiled by the Executive Committees of village Soviets, in townships by township Soviets and in cities by city Soviets. Electors in military units and military formations are included in lists compiled and signed by the commanding officer.

p Completed registers arc hung out for public scrutiny so that errors may be corrected in good time.

p Every citizen has the right to lodge a complaint with the election commission should he discover an error in the electoral register concerning him personally or any other elector.

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p An elector who leaves his permanent residence after the voters’ registers have been drawn up is issued a Voting Right Certificate and a corresponding mark is made in the registers. With a Voting Right Certificate in his hands an elector has the right to be included in the electoral registers at the constituency where he takes up permanent or temporary residence.

p The procedure for the compilation of electoral registers fully precludes any abuse of the election law and guarantees all electors the possibility of performing their civic duty and voting in the elections.

p Elections to all Soviets are conducted in constituencies which are formed strictly in conformity with the rates of representation set down in the Constitution of the U.S.S.R. and in the Regulations for Elections to the Soviets, and embrace a definite section of the population equal in number to any other constituency.

p Each constituency elects one deputy to a given Soviet. Ballots are cast and the votes are counted at polling stations (one for every 500-3,000 of population), established by the Executive Committees of city and district Soviets. A separate polling station is set up in villages or groups of villages numbering up to 500 but not less than 100 inhabitants.

p In remote northern and eastern regions and in mountainous districts with their predominantly small settlements polling stations are set up in areas with not less than 50 inhabitants.

p Polling stations are also established in military units and formations.

p Besides, the law provides for the establishment of polling stations in hospitals, maternity homes, sanatoria, invalids’ homes and in separate hospital buildings where the number of electors is not less than 50, and also in ships with not less than 20 electors aboard, which are at sea on polling day, in long-distance passenger trains, at large railway stations and airports at which electors holding a Voting Right Certificate can cast their ballots. The aged and the infirm arc taken to polling stations by car, while those who cannot come to the polls due to ill health drop their ballots into a sealed box brought to their bedside.

p Election commissions (central, regional and district) are formed for the purpose of organising elections and
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87 PROCEDURE FOR NOMINATING CANDIDATES FOR ELECTION TO SOVIETS General meetings General meetings General neetings General Organs of mass of workers and of workers and of peasants on meetings of organisations, other employees other employees at collective farms servicemen in from central on state farms factories and offices and in v illages military units to district NOMINATE CANDIDATES 88
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instituting people’s control over election canvassing and procedure. All of them are made up of members of Communist, trade union, co-operative and other mass organisations and societies, as well as of people from different enterprises elected at general meetings of industrial and office workers, collective farmers, and so forth.

p A particularly large number of election commissions with a total membership of several million are set up during elections to local organs of power. Suffice it to say that in the last elections to the local Soviets, which took place in 1967, 2,257,300 election commissions with nearly 9,000,000 members were formed throughout the country.

p The right to nominate candidates is afforded mass organisations and societies, including Party, trade unions, co-operative and youth organisations and cultural societies, as well as general meetings of industrial and office workers of enterprises and institutions, servicemen of separate military units, general meetings of farmers at collective farms and villages, and workers at state farms.

p In practice candidates are usually nominated at general meetings of working people, and mass organisations, as a rule, exercise their right to nominate candidates through these meetings.

p Thus, all questions connected with the nomination of candidates are collectively settled by the working people. Each Soviet elector has the right to attend election meetings and voice his opinion of one or another candidate. The nomination of candidates is accompanied by popular and all-round discussion at meetings and in the press of their personal and business qualities so that the worthiest and most authoritative people are chosen.

p All mass organisations or societies and general meetings of factory and office workers, peasants and servicemen have to register their candidates with the corresponding district election commission. A candidate is considered registered after the minutes of the meeting at which he has been nominated and his written consent to stand for elections at a given constituency are handed over to the district election commission.

p The commission, for its part, registers all candidates in accordance with the established procedure, enters their names in the ballot-paper and publishes the results of the 89 registration of candidates within the period stipulated by law.

p Every organisation, which has nominated a candidate and registered him with an election commission, and all citizens of the U.S.S.R. are guaranteed the right to campaign for this candidate at meetings, in the press and in other ways.

p A candidate incurs no expenditures in connection with the elections. The stale finances the preparations for elections and the elections themselves. The working people and their organisations are given the free use of the best premises, palaces and houses of culture, theatres and clubs for canvassing and set up polling and canvassing stations at specially outfitted premises. Moreover, they are entitled to the free use of printers, stocks of paper, radio, television and other facilities for promoting the election campaign.

p Elections to Soviets are always held on an off-day and all polling stations, whether in big cities, on mountain pastures, or in polar stations are open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. After the voting, the ballot boxes are opened by members of the election commission in the presence of representatives of mass organisations and societies and newspaper correspondents.

p Election returns in a given constituency are considered valid if more than 50 per cent of its registered voters had cast their ballots.

p A candidate is considered elected if he polls an absolute majority of votes, that is, when more than 50 per cent of the ballots are cast in a given constituency and acknowledged as valid.

p Should less than 50 per cent of the electorate take part in the polling or if a candidate receives less than 50 per cent of the votes, new elections arc appointed not later than within a fortnight after the first elections.

p Judging election returns in accordance with the absolute majority vote principle makes it possible to determine the extent to which the electors trust their deputies and creates conditions ensuring genuine popular representation.

p After counting the votes and ascertaining that a deputy has been elected in conformity with the Regulations for Elections to the Soviets, the district election commission issues a corresponding certificate to the newly elected deputy.

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p Such is the electoral procedure in the U.S.S.R. We have described it in detail inasmuch as all its aspects in large measure determine the results of the elections.

p Often various “details” of the election law in capitalist countries conceal measures preventing a considerable sec tion of the population from participating in elections. For this purpose they widely implement various electoral qualifications and the so-called electoral geography, introduce diverse complicated systems of counting votes, impose restrictions on canvassing by working people and their organisations, and so forth.

p The election procedure in the U.S.S.R. is not governed by diverse qualifications or restrictions, and no reservations or artful measures are employed in nominating candidates and compiling electoral rolls. It is extremely simple and convenient for the electorate and is controlled by the public.

p This fact is of the utmost importance, for it allows more fully and correctly to ascertain the will of the voters and ensures the representation of all sections of society in the Soviets.

p Then why is only one candidate registered in each constituency and does not this violate the freedom of election?

p Answering this question, which is usually asked when the Soviet electoral system is under discussion, we must say that the Soviet electoral law does not in the least prohibit the registration of several candidates in each constituency. Moreover, electoral rolls and ballot-papers are designed for the running of several candidates.

In practice, however, the electorate do not use this right and it has become the established custom to register only one candidate in each constituency. This is due to the fact that in the U.S.S.R. there neither are nor can be any contending social forces or groups fighting for dominant positions in representative bodies during elections. All the candidates are nominated on behalf of the single bloc of Communists and non-Party people. This bloc unites the entire population. The Communists and the non-Party people do not stand separately in the elections, but all together, in close alliance and in a united front. They have a common political platform and the same candidates. In addition, it must be borne in mind that the working people and their 91 organisations have every possibility carefully to discuss all candidates and nominate the worthiest. Their personal qualities and all aspects of their activity are assessed at meetings of factory, office and collective-farm personnel and then at pre-election meetings of voters. In this way only those candidates are allowed to stand who will be able to meet the requirements of the electorate. Taking into consideration the solidarity and unity of the Soviet people this election procedure is most rational and does not in the least violate the citizens’ right to express their will. In view of the fact that the procedure for nominating candidates and election canvassing, and the guaranteed secret ballot ensure genuine freedom for the electors to vote for the people whom they know and trust, the Soviet electorate consider it most natural to register only one candidate in each constituency.