The Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg (russian: Законода́тельное собра́ние Санкт-Петербу́рга, ЗакС) is the regional parliament of

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, a federal subject ( federal city) of Russia. It was established in 1994, succeeding the Leningrad Council of People Deputies (''Lensovet''). It is a permanent body, and the supreme and only governing body in St Petersburg. It is located in the Mariinsky Palace. Its powers and duties are defined in the

Charter of Saint Petersburg Charter of Saint Petersburg (russian: Устав Санкт-Петербурга) is the basic law of the federal city of Saint Petersburg. It was adopted by the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg, the city's unicameral parliament, on January ...

History

Russian Empire

Saint Petersburg's city duma was established in 1786 as part of

Catherine II , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

's reforms on local government. In 1798, Paul I abolished the city duma and replaced it with the Ratusha (Rathaus) until the city duma was restored in 1802. The city duma was again abolished in 1918 with its functions devolved to the

Petrograd Soviet The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (russian: Петроградский совет рабочих и солдатских депутатов, ''Petrogradskiy soviet rabochikh i soldatskikh deputatov'') was a city council of P ...

Russian Federation

Initially it was the speaker of the Assembly who served as member of the

Federation Council of Russia The Federation Council (russian: Сове́т Федера́ции – ''Soviet Federatsii'', common abbreviation: Совфед – ''Sovfed''), or Senate (officially, starting from July 1, 2020) ( ru , Сенат , translit = Senat), is th ...

representing the legislative power body of this federal subject. However, in 2000 the federal legislation

changed Change or Changing may refer to: Alteration * Impermanence, a difference in a state of affairs at different points in time * Menopause, also referred to as "the change", the permanent cessation of the menstrual period * Metamorphosis, or chang ...

and the duties were delegated to a separate person to be elected by the regional legislature (not necessarily among its members). From June 13, 2001 until May 18, 2011, Sergey Mironov occupied this position. According to federal legislation from 2005, the governor of Saint Petersburg (as well as heads of other

federal subjects of Russia The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation (russian: субъекты Российской Федерации, subyekty Rossiyskoy Federatsii) or simply as the subjects of the federation (russian ...

) was proposed by the

President of Russia The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federa ...

and approved by the regional legislature. On December 20, 2006, incumbent Valentina Matviyenko was approved as governor. In 2012, following the passage of a new federal law, which restored direct elections of the heads of federal subjects, the city charter was again amended.

Convocations

The first three convocations were formed by a single-member district

plurality voting system Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate, or candidates, who poll more than any other counterpart (that is, receive a plurality), are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects just one member per ...

with at least 20% participation required (except for the 1994 elections with their changing participation threshold), two-round for the first and second convocations and single-round for the third one. On March 11, 2007, the fourth elections were held using a

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be u ...

system with a 7-percent election threshold and no required threshold of participation for the first time according to the new city law accepted by the third convocation of the assembly in 2006 and new federal legislation. *1st convocation: March 20–21/October 30/November 20, 1994 *2nd convocation: December 6/December 20, 1998 *3rd convocation: December 8, 2002 *4th convocation: March 11, 2007 *5th convocation: December 4, 2011 *6th convocation: September 18, 2016 *7th convocation: September 2021 – September 2026

Composition

The Assembly is a permanent body, and the supreme and only governing body in St Petersburg. It consists of fifty seats and is elected for a five-year term. Half of this number run in single-mandate constituencies, while the other half are in a single electoral district, with winners elected in proportion to the number of votes cast. The candidates are nominated by electoral associations.

Structure and governor

The highest executive body of state power in St Petersburg is the government of St Petersburg, headed by the Governor of St Petersburg, who is the region's highest-ranking official. The Governor is elected for five years by Russian citizens who live in St Petersburg permanently. , the term of office of the incumbent Governor expires in September 2024.

Past compositions

2011

2016

2021

;Controversy While non-systemic opposition was largely eliminated from the elections, those candidates (mostly of systemic opposition) who were allowed to participate were targeted by various semi-legal intimidation or confusion techniques. The one includes "doppelganger candidates", where a person of similar look and surname was put on the same ballot in order to confuse voters. A remarkable case of , a candidate of the

Yabloko The Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko (RUDP Yabloko) (russian: Росси́йская объединённая демократи́ческая па́ртия «Я́блоко», Rossíyskaya obyedinyónnaya demokratícheskaya pártiya "Y ...

party, who run in the №2

circuit with two nearly indistinguishable

doppelgänger A doppelgänger (), a compound noun formed by combining the two nouns (double) and (walker or goer) (), doppelgaenger or doppelganger is a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a double, of a living person. In fiction and mythology, a doppelg ...

s alongside was widely reported. Both have changed their legal names to "Boris Vishnevsky" shortly before the elections, and returned to their original names shortly after it was finished.