The Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg () is the regional parliament of

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, a

federal subject The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation () or simply as the subjects of the federation (), are the administrative division, constituent entities of Russia, its top-level political division ...

(

federal city The term federal city is a title for certain cities in Germany, Switzerland, Russia, and several national capitals. Germany In Germany, the former West German capital Bonn has been designated with the title of federal city (''Bundesstadt''), ma ...

) of Russia. It was established in 1994, succeeding the Leningrad Council of People's Deputies (''Lensovet''). It is a permanent body, and the supreme and only governing body in St Petersburg. It is located in the

Mariinsky Palace Mariinsky Palace (), also known as Marie Palace, was the last neoclassical Imperial residence to be constructed in Saint Petersburg. It was built between 1839 and 1844, designed by the court architect Andrei Stackenschneider. It houses the c ...

. Its powers and duties are defined in the

Charter of Saint Petersburg Charter of Saint Petersburg () 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 14, 1998. History Charter of Saint Petersburg was ...

History

Russian Empire

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

Catherine II Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III ...

'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 (, ''Petrogradsky soviet rabochih i soldatskikh deputatov'') was a city council of Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), the capital of Russia at the time. For brevity, it is usually called the Pet ...

Russian Federation

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

Federation Council of Russia The Federation Council, unofficially Senate, is the upper house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the lower house being the State Duma. It was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993 ...

representing the legislative power body of this federal subject. However, in 2000 the federal legislation changed 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 Sergey Mikhailovich Mironov (; born 14 February 1953) is a Russian politician. He served as Chairman of the Federation Council (Russia), Chairman of the Federation Council of Russia, Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliam ...

occupied this position. According to federal legislation from 2005, the

governor of Saint Petersburg The Governor of Saint Petersburg () is the head of the executive branch of Saint Petersburg City Administration. The governor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforce ...

(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 () or simply as the subjects of the federation (), are the administrative division, constituent entities of Russia, its top-level political division ...

) was proposed by the

President of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...

and approved by the regional legislature. On December 20, 2006, incumbent

Valentina Matviyenko Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko, . (;, . born 7 April 1949) is a Russian politician and former diplomat serving as a Senator from Saint Petersburg and the Chairwoman of the Federation Council since 2011. Previously she was Governor of Saint Peter ...

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 the candidates in an electoral district who poll more than any other (that is, receive a plurality) are elected. Under single-winner plurality voting, and in systems based on single-member ...

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 system of proportional representation based on preregistered Political party, political parties, with each party being Apportionment (politics), allocated a certain number of seats Apportionm ...

system with a 7-percent

election threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various w ...

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 Saint 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 Saint Petersburg is the government of Saint Petersburg, headed by the Governor of Saint Petersburg, who is the region's highest-ranking official. The Governor is elected for five years by Russian citizens who live in Saint Petersburg permanently. , the incumbent governor is

Alexander Beglov Alexander Dmitriyevich Beglov (; , born 19 May 1956) is a Russian politician. He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation. He was appointed acting Governor of Saint Petersburg o ...

, who was re-elected for a second term of office in 2024.

Past compositions

2011

2016

2021

;Controversy Photo of Boris Vishnevskiy from Yabloko site

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 Boris Vishnevskiy, a candidate of the

Yabloko The Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko (RUDP Yabloko; rus, Росси́йская объединённая демократи́ческая па́ртия «Я́блоко», Rossiyskaya obyedinyonnaya demokraticheskaya partiya "Yabloko" ...

party, who run in the №2

circuit with two nearly indistinguishable

doppelgänger A doppelgänger ( ), sometimes spelled doppelgaenger or doppelganger, is a ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts its own fleshly counterpart. In fiction and mythology, a doppelgänger is often portrayed as a ghostly or p ...

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.