presidency (USSR)

Preconditions

A single head of state was not a natural outgrowth of the Soviet system. A singular presidency was considered while the 1936 constitution was drafted but was rejected on Stalin's initiative; the question returned during the Khrushchev-era constitutional project and again under Brezhnev, each time leaving the collegial Presidium of the Supreme Soviet as the highest body of power (P50, P52).

Political reform and the presidency

A memorandum by Alexander Yakovlev, "The Imperative of Political Development" (December 1985), first put the idea to Gorbachev (P54). At the Nineteenth Party Conference in the summer of 1988 Gorbachev raised a presidency among possible reform directions, while calling presidential rule unacceptable and not fully democratic in a multinational state (P56, P57). The decision matured in autumn 1989; the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet approved it on 12 February 1990 and a Central Committee plenum on 11 March 1990 (P58, P59).

Creation and election

The Third Congress of People's Deputies, held 12-15 March 1990, created the office by constitutional amendment and simultaneously removed the Communist Party's leading role from Article 6, ending the one-party system (P229, P231, P233, P234). The constitution prescribed election for five years by universal, equal, direct and secret ballot, but the first president was exceptionally elected by the Congress. The nominated candidates were Gorbachev, Nikolai Ryzhkov and Vadim Bakatin; the latter two withdrew, leaving a single candidate. On 15 March Gorbachev was elected with 59.2 per cent and took the oath (P61, P62, P235).

Powers and state institutions

As head of state and commander-in-chief the president signed and could veto legislation, appointed the government, declared states of emergency or martial law, called referendums and reported to the Supreme Soviet (P9, P11, P106, P108, P114, P125, P195, P198). In December 1990 the Fourth Congress replaced the Supreme Soviet-subordinated Council of Ministers with a Cabinet answerable to the president, created the Security Council as a presidential body, and introduced the vice presidency, to which Gennady Yanayev was elected (P64, P122, P123).

August 1991 and abolition

On 19-21 August 1991 the State Committee on the State of Emergency, with Yanayev, took over presidential powers citing Gorbachev's ill health, but the coup collapsed within days and Gorbachev returned (P20, P21, P67, P206). All that followed stripped the office of real power. On 21 December the heads of eleven republics at Alma-Ata abolished the presidency; Gorbachev resigned on 25 December and declared the office extinct, with its powers ceded to Russian president Boris Yeltsin (P22, P82, P83).

Acting president

The constitution provided that if the president could no longer serve, powers passed to the vice president and then to the chairman of the Supreme Soviet, with a new election within three months (P129, P130).