1991 Leningrad municipal election

Soviet election and name change referendum May 2024 The 1991 Leningrad municipal elections took place on June 12, 1991Gray Malcoln 'Leningrad' under siege Maclean's June 10, 1991 https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1991/6/10/leningrad-under-siege https://web.archive.org/web/20201021194839/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1991/6/10/leningrad-under-siege dead October 21, 2020 Maclean's The Complete Archive 10 May 2022 10 June 1991 in the city of Leningrad (modern-day Saint Petersburg), located in the then-Soviet republic of Russia. The elections included the city's first popular mayoral election and a non-binding referendum on whether to change the city's name to its historic name of "Saint Petersburg". The elections coincided with the 1991 Russian presidential election. Roughly two-thirds of the city's approximately three million eligible voters participated in the election. Background The election coincided with the first (and ultimately only) round of the 1991 Russian presidential election, which was won by Boris Yeltsin. The coinciding presidential election was first-ever popular election of a Russian leader.Schmemann Serge YELTSIN IS HANDILY ELECTED LEADER OF RUSSIAN REPUBLIC IN SETBACK FOR COMMUNISTS https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/14/world/yeltsin-is-handily-elected-leader-of-russian-republic-in-setback-for-communists.html The New York Times 9 May 2022 14 June 1991 Also coinciding with the election was a mayoral election in Moscow and a presidential election in Tatarstan. Additionally coinciding was a referendum in Sverdlovsk on renaming their city to its former name of "Yekaterinburg". The election was the first ever popular election of a city administrator in the city's history. Mayoral election 1991 Leningrad mayoral election presidential 150x150px 12 June 1991 1996 Russian gubernatorial elections#Saint Petersburg 1996 ASobchak.jpg mediumblue Anatoly Sobchak Vyacheslav Shcherbakov ru Щербаков, Вячеслав Николаевич 66.13% Yuri Sevenard.jpg Communist Party of the Soviet Union Yuri Sevenard Yury Denisov 25.72% 64.89% Chairman of the City Council Anatoly Sobchak Independent Elected Mayor Anatoly Sobchak Independent 1991 Leningrad mayoral election map.svg 200px Winning candidate by district Chairman of the Leningrad City Council Anatoly Sobchak (an independent politician) was elected the city's first popularly elected mayor, winning 65% of the vote against Communist city council member Yuri Sevenard. Before the election, Sobchak had been the chairperson of the Leningrad City Council. Sobchak was considered to be a liberal. He was a former member of the Communist Party, but had left the party the previous year. Sobchak was considered a like-minded reformer to Yeltsin, and was politically associated with Yeltsin. His victory, along with the similarly strong victory (also over 65%) of fellow Yeltsin ally Gavriil Popov in the coinciding Moscow mayoral election, were a boon to Yeltsin's political mandate.Reform dominates election https://www.newspapers.com/image/805023025 Newspapers.com The Olympian (Olympia, Washington) The Associated Press 9 May 2022 en subscription 14 June 1991 Sobchak and allies had called for more tractors and fewer tanks to be produced at Soviet government-operated defense plants in the Leningrad area. He also hoped to see municipally owned enterprises of the city privatized through methods included outright sales, long-term leases, and the creation of joint-stock companies owned by employees. He also supported making the city a free economic zone which would lure foreign manufacturing and service companies to the area through tax concessions and exemptions from customs duties. In May 1991, Boris Yeltsin gave his support to this plan. Sobchak, during his campaign, supported renaming the city to its former name of "Saint Petersburg". He also called for removing Lenin from his mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square, saying that Lenin should be buried in Leningrad/Saint Petersburg alongside his mother and sister. The most significant candidate that Sobchak faced was Yuri Sevenard, the Communist Party's candidate.Voters: Give The Party a slap https://www.newspapers.com/image/571818366 Newspapers.com The Associated Press Brumley Bryan Times-Advocate (Escondino) 10 May 2022 en subscription 13 June 1991 Candidate Running mate Resultshttps://spbarchives.ru/1716 Красуйся, град Петров. Петербург – место памяти о Петре I / Три имени Северной столицы ru spbarchives.ru 2 January 2026 https://web.archive.org/web/20230117144053/https://spbarchives.ru/1716 17 January 2023Real Boris Yeltsin finally standing up https://www.newspapers.com/image/122472607 Newspapers.com Arizona Republic 10 May 2022 en subscription The New York Times 14 Jun 1991Election https://www.newspapers.com/image/589337583 Newspapers.com Tyler Morning Telegraph The Associated Press 10 May 2022 en subscription 14 Jun 1991Как выбирали в 1991-м, Kommersant (11 June 2016) %Anatoly Sobchak Vyacheslav Shcherbakov 66.13Yuri Sevenard Yury DenisovМедный всадник, спи спокойно Юрий Куканов https://yeltsin.ru/uploads/upload/2019/11/28/rs_14_06_91osr.pdf 10 November 2025 Rossiyskaya Gazeta 124 (170) 14 June 1991 1 ru 25.72Against all 7.15Invalid ballots 1.03Total 100Registered voters/turnout 64.89 Name change referendum 55% of voters supported restoring the city's name to "Saint Petersburg". The referendum was non-binding, as only the Communist-dominated national parliament had the authority to implement a name-change. When the city was founded in 1703, it had been known by the name "Saint Petersburg", but had been renamed to "Petrograd" in 1914 and again to "Leningrad" in 1924, five days after the death of the inaugural leader of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin. After exhaustive lobbying by anti-Communist groups, the Leningrad City Council agreed to hold a referendum on changing the city's name to "Saint Petersburg". Debate over the name-change, ahead of the referendum, touched on the very value of Soviet identity. Bolsheviks, communists, and many war veterans opposed a name change as both attacking the ideals that had shaped their lives, and as an insult towards the suffering endured in the Battle of Leningrad. The prospect of renaming drew particular anger from many survivors of the Siege of Leningrad. Contrarily, reformers, intellectuals, Russian nationalists, and opponents of Communism felt that the name Saint Petersburg reflected Russian excellence and favored dropping the name "Leningrad", which they associated with a system they felt had been repressive. The greatest opposition was reportedly from voters over 65 years old, while the greatest support was from voters under the age of 30. Alexei II, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, supported the name change. Other supporters of the name-change included then-city councilman Dmitry Mezentsev. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had spoken out ahead of the referendum against the prospect of renaming the city, declaring that "there are neither moral nor political grounds" to rename the city. The June 1991 elections in Russia were seen as a blow to Gorbachev, also seeing the election of Yeltsin (whose coalition was critical of Gorbachev's policies) as president. John Rettie of The Guardian suggested that Gorbachev's remarks opposing renaming may have encouraged voters to actually vote in support of renaming the city. Deputy Mayor of Leningrad Vyacheslav Scherbakov also spoke against the potential name change. Among the arguments local Communists, led by Leningrad party leader Boris Gidaspov, used against the name-change was that it would be very costly to change the city's name on signs, stationery and equipment. They also argued that it would dishonor survivors of the Siege of Leningrad. Renown Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn argued that all Russians, not just Leningrad residents, should be allowed to vote on the matter of changing the city's name. He also expressed concern that the name "Petersburg" was in violation of linguistic and historical traditions, suggesting Petrograd and Svyato-Petrograd as Russified alternatives to the more Germanic "Petersburg". The 55% result in support of renaming the city was not predicted by pre-election polling.Shane Scott Yeltsin wins Russia's first free elections Leningrad voters back name change to St. Petersburg https://www.baltimoresun.com/1991/06/14/yeltsin-wins-russias-first-free-elections-leningrad-voters-back-name-change-to-st-petersburg/ Baltimore Sun 10 May 2022 en 14 June 1991 Political observers had believed it might fail to pass. Pre-election polls had shown the electorate near evenly-split, showing the referendum likely to be defeated by a narrow margin. In its similar coinciding referendum, the residents of Sverdlovsk voted in support of renaming their city to its historical name of "Yekaterinburg".On This Day in 1991 Boris Yeltsin Elected President https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/06/13/on-this-day-in-1991-boris-yeltsin-elected-president-a65982 The Moscow Times 10 May 2022 en 13 June 2019 The Associated Press called the result, "a strong blow to the legacy of Lenin". Scott Shane of The Baltimore Sun called the result, "potent symbol of the popular rejection of the 1917 revolution and its legacy."Rettie John Leningrad becomes St Petersburg – archive, 1991 https://www.theguardian.com/world/from-the-archive-blog/2021/sep/01/leningrad-becomes-st-petersburg-1991 The Guardian 10 May 2022 en 14 June 1991 The name of the city was reinstated as "Saint Petersburg" later that year. +Name change referendum Option Results %Support name-change 54.86Oppose name-change 42.68Invalid ballots 2.46Total 100Registered voters/turnout 64.69 References Leningrad Category:1991 in Leningrad Category:Referendums in Russia