Soviet Approval Voting

[Clay Shentrup]

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/15/world/soviet-to-begin-multi-candidate-election-experiment-in-june.html

SOVIET TO BEGIN MULTI-CANDIDATE ELECTION EXPERIMENT IN JUNE

By THEODORE SHABAD

Published: April 15, 1987

The Soviet Union has announced that voters will be given a choice of candidates on a trial basis in local government elections in June.

The experiment, to be conducted in selected counties, appears to be part of what the administration of Mikhail S. Gorbachev has been describing as a process of ''democratization.''

Mr. Gorbachev said earlier this year - without setting a timetable - that he favored introducing some competition into Soviet elections, in which the practice has been simply to have voters endorse a single candidate picked by the ruling Communist Party.

According to election rules published in Soviet newspapers on March 29, such a choice of candidates is now to be offered to voters in selected counties in local government elections scheduled for June 21. Outside the experimental multi-candidate areas, the elections would still involve the traditional endorsement of unopposed candidates.

The practice of choosing among two or more approved candidates has already been introduced in elections of the managers of some industrial enterprises, directors of research institutes and Communist Party secretaries at lower levels.

The local government elections in June will be the first in which a choice is to be offered to Soviet voters in general elections.

Unlike the voting for managers of enterprises and institutes and the low-level Party secretaries, the local-election experiment will not pit two or more approved candidates against one another. The approach that has been selected is the use of multimember election districts.

Under this system, existing single-member constituencies are to be combined in the selected areas to form larger constituencies with three or more seats in the local government body being elected. The elections are for soviets, or government councils, at the level of counties, small towns, lesser urban settlements and rural districts.

These local soviets have traditionally not played an important role in Soviet government, and their function has been largely limited to resolving minor issues of local significance. As part of the Gorbachev program, an effort is to be made to enlarge their power in the conduct of local affairs.

According to the rules for the experimental multimember districts, the number of candidates in each district would exceed the number of seats allocated. Voters may withhold their vote from particular candidates by crossing out their names on the ballot.

Candidates backed by at least half of the registered voters in the constituency would be considered elected. If the number of elected candidates exceeds the number of seats allotted to the constituency, those with the least number of votes are declared stand-by members, who would be called on in case an elected member drops out for some reason. This would eliminate the need for by-elections.

In cases in which candidates receive an identical number of votes, the rules provide for a second round to pick a winner.

[Aaron Hamlin]

So they only used this in multi-winner elections?

[Clay Shentrup]

I should have bolded this part: