1958 Soviet Union legislative election

Elections to the Supreme Soviet were held in the Soviet Union on 16 March 1958.[1]

1958 Soviet Union legislative election

16 March 1958
All 1378 seats to the Soviet Supreme Soviet
Leader Nikita Khrushchev Party CPSU Independent Leader since 13 March 1953 Seats won 1048 330 Percentage 76.1% 23.9%
Chairman of the Council of Ministers before election Nikolai Bulganin CPSU Elected Chairman of the Council of Ministers Nikita Khrushchev 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

Party	Soviet of the Union			Soviet of Nationalities
	Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
Communist Party of the Soviet Union	133,214,652	99.6	563	133,431,524	99.7	485
Independents			175			155
Against	580,641	0.4	–	363,736	0.3	–
Invalid/blank votes	798	–	–	831	–	–
Total	133,796,091	100	738	133,796,091	100	640
Registered voters/turnout	133,836,325	100	–	133,836,325	100	–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

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