Evolution of the legislative assembly of St. Petersburg (1995–2007)

The evolution of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg of the first three convocations (1995–2007) is considered, as well as briefly the activities of the Leningrad (after September 1991 — St. Petersburg) City Council of the XXI convocation (Lensovet). In these convocations, deputies were elected according to the majority system in 50 electoral districts. The most effective was the activity of the first convocation of the Legislative Assembly, which worked from the end of 1994 to the end of 1998. It was by the forces of the deputies of this convocation that the constitution of the city — subject of the Russian Federation was prepared and adopted — the Charter of St. Petersburg, which laid down the principles of separation and balance of powers, and also provided for the creation of the Statutory Court of St. Petersburg and the Institute of the Commissioner for Human Rights in St. Petersburg. This was achieved largely due to the high-quality composition of the Legislative Assembly, in which one third of deputies were deputies of the Leningrad City Council before that. As part of the activities of the Second Convocation of the Legislative Assembly (1999–2002), the law “On the Statutory Court of St. Petersburg” was adopted, and the Charter Court itself was elected. He made it possible to strengthen the system of checks and balances of the branches of regional government, and in his 2002 decisions, in particular, decided that the election of Governor V.A. Yakovlev for a third term would contradict the city Charter. During this period, the pressure of the executive power of St. Petersburg on deputies was partially offset by pressure from the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation. The third convocation (2003–2007) was characterized by a further strengthening of monocentrism and the emergence of the dominant faction of the United Russia Party. Under pressure from the Governor of St. Petersburg, deputies made serious amendments to the law “On the Statutory Court of St. Petersburg”, which significantly reduced its independence.