1970 Soviet Union legislative election

Elections to the Supreme Soviet were held in the Soviet Union on 14 June 1970.[1]

1970 Soviet Union legislative election

14 June 1970
All 1,517 seats in the Soviet Supreme Soviet
First party Second party   Leader Leonid Brezhnev Party CPSU Independent Leader since 14 October 1964 Seats won 1,096 421 Percentage 72.2% 27.8%
Chairman of the Council of Ministers before election Alexei Kosygin CPSU Elected Chairman of the Council of Ministers Alexei Kosygin CPSU

Electoral system

Candidates had to be nominated by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) or by a public organisation.[2] However, all public organisations were controlled by the party and were subservient to a 1931 law that required them to accept party rule.[2] The CPSU itself remained the only legal one in the country.[3]

Voters could vote against the CPSU candidate, but could only do so by using polling booths, whereas votes for the party could be cast simply by submitting a blank ballot.[2] Turnout was required to be over 50% for the election to be valid.[2]

Candidates

CPSU candidates accounted for around three quarters of the nominees, whilst many of the others were members of Komsomol.[4]

Results

Summary

Party	Soviet of the Union			Soviet of Nationalities
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
Communist Party of the Soviet Union	152,771,739	99.7	562	152,843,228	99.8	534
Independents			205			216
Against	400,054	0.3	–	328,544	0.2	–
Invalid/blank votes	420	–	–	441	–	–
Total	153,172,213	100	767	153,172,213	100	750
Registered voters/turnout	153,237,112	100	–	153,237,112	100	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Soviet of the Union

Soviet Republic	Votes					Seats
	For	%	Against	%	Invalid
Russian SFSR	84,511,249	99.62	318,725	0.38	222	423
Armenian SSR	1,251,812	99.91	1,140	0.09	0	7
Azerbaijan SSR	2,472,025	99.95	1,260	0.05	7	15
Byelorussian SSR	5,838,677	99.92	4,423	0.08	2	28
Estonian SSR	945,879	99.67	3,019	0.33	56	4
Georgian SSR	2,833,298	99.98	549	0.02	6	15
Kazakh SSR	7,038,724	99.72	19,755	0.28	1	39
Kirghiz SSR	1,475,729	99.77	3,364	0.23	0	9
Latvian SSR	1,701,358	99.92	1,354	0.08	10	7
Lithuanian SSR	2,055,767	99.96	873	0.04	2	10
Moldavian SSR	2,163,805	99.93	1,583	0.07	0	11
Tajik SSR	1,336,401	99.86	1,939	0.14	1	8
Turkmen SSR	1,033,718	99.80	2,081	0.20	0	6
Ukrainian SSR	32,496,538	99.92	27,431	0.08	0	150
Uzbek SSR	5,616,759	99.84	8,847	0.16	114	35
Soviet Union	152,771,739	99.74	396,343	0.24	420	767
Source: IPU

Soviet of Nationalities

	Votes					Seats
	For	%	Against	%	Invalid
Union Republics	152,843,228	99.79	320,633	0.21	441	480
Autonomous Republics	11,449,897	99.59	47,169	0.41	24	220
Autonomous Regions	1,115,099	99.64	3,978	0.36	1	40
National Areas	583,055	99.55	2,645	0.45	0	10
Source: IPU

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1642 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1630
3. Nohlen & Stöver, p1654
4. Nohlen & Stöver, p1631