Why did Russia have a presidential system after the collapse of the Soviet Union?

In fact, it was not only after the collapse of the Soviet Union that Russia had a presidential system. There was a presidential system during the era of Gorbachev, the last leader of the former Soviet Union.

The basic process of the emergence of the presidential system in the former Soviet Union can be roughly divided into four stages:

The first stage is the ideological brewing and internal planning stage

As early as the Soviet Union In the early days of Mikhail Gorbachev's administration, some Soviet jurists and political scientists publicly proposed the need to study the doctrine of separation of powers and absorb useful elements from it. However, there was no market for these scholars' opinions at the time. At the 19th Congress of the Soviet Union in 1988, Gorbachev proposed the concept of a "rule of law state" and the idea of ​​"law supremacy" in his report, which activated the research on the doctrine of separation of powers.

In May 1989, the Soviet Union established the People's Congress system, and Gorbachev concurrently served as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. The decentralization process began in the horizontal relationship between the Soviet Union, the Soviet government and the Soviet Parliament, which was characterized by the transfer of power to the Soviets. Then Gorbachev proposed the idea of ​​establishing a new state and social management system.

Beginning at the end of 1989, Yakovlev, a member of the Political Bureau of the Soviet Union, took charge of drafting the Action Program of the Soviet Union. In this draft program, the issue of establishing a presidential system was clearly raised for the first time. On the eve of the February Plenary Session of the Soviet Union, although Gorbachev did not directly mention the issue of the presidential system in public, he sent some groups secretly or publicly to the United States, France and other countries to inspect Western parliamentary systems and presidential systems. control problem. At the same time, some famous Soviet scholars and Gorbachev's reform advisors published articles or spoke on the necessity of establishing a presidential system. The article by the famous jurist B. Topolnin also revealed some assumptions about the presidential system.

The second stage is when the February Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union formally raised the issue of establishing a presidential system.

The draft program of action of the Soviet Union submitted to the February plenary session of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union clearly stated: "Dr. Su believes that the separation of the three powers, namely legislative power, executive power and judicial power, is essential to Management efficiency is of critical significance. In Lenin’s words, we should combine the advantages of the Soviet system with the benefits of parliamentary system. While giving full play to the role of the People’s Congress and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, we need a system to implement reforms. policy, and a reliable and effective mechanism for the implementation of passed laws.” For this reason, “the society is increasingly resolutely raising the issue of establishing the position of head of state-the presidential system.”

Gorbachev also publicly raised the issue of establishing a presidential system for the first time, demanding that the president be given "all necessary powers to implement reform policies." There were many hot topics discussed at the February Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union, and the debate was quite fierce. However, on the issue of establishing a presidential system, except for the strong opposition from Ambassador Brovikov to Poland, most representatives expressed support in their speeches. At the same time, he also put forward his own opinions and suggestions. In the end, the plenary session adopted the Soviet Union's Action Programme, which included the establishment of a presidential system. Only Yeltsin voted against the Soviet Union's Action Programme.

The third stage is the meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and the meeting of the Supreme Soviet to make specific preparations for the establishment of a presidential system.

Just after the February Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev convened a meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union on February 12. The meeting unanimously "endorsed the establishment of a democratic presidential regime in the Soviet Union" and It was decided to convene the third Extraordinary People's Congress in the near future to formally establish the presidential system.

After Gorbachev's success at the Presidium meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, he convened the third meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union starting on February 14. At this meeting, more than 400 representatives (members) of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union discussed issues related to the establishment of a presidential system.

At the meeting on February 14, Gorbachev was frustrated in setting up a timetable for the presidential system. On this day, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union made two proposals.

The first suggestion is to ask lawmakers to agree to convene an extraordinary people's congress on February 27 to discuss and establish a presidential system. MPs expressed different views on this. To sum up, there are three points: First, the legal documents related to the presidential system have not yet been prepared. There are only two weeks until February 27, and the preparation work is difficult to complete. Second, I am puzzled by the fact that the Extraordinary People’s Congress was convened less than two months after the last session of the People’s Congress. Third, it is believed that the time for establishing a presidential system is not yet ripe.

In the end, the voting results for this proposal were: 241 votes in favor, 161 votes against, and 32 abstentions. Since the votes in favor did not exceed the required 2/3 majority, the proposal to convene an Extraordinary People's Congress on February 27 was rejected, and another auspicious date had to be chosen.

The second suggestion is to include discussion of the presidential system on the agenda of this Supreme Soviet meeting. MPs approved the proposal and agreed to decide on a separate date for the Extraordinary People's Congress.

At the meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union on February 27, Gorbachev made decisive progress on the issue of establishing a presidential system. After intense preparations, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR proposed a draft law on the presidential system to the Supreme Soviet Conference. After debate, most members were convinced that a presidential system must be introduced as soon as possible.

Although congressmen still had differences on the specific issue of establishing a presidential system, the meeting made breakthrough progress in two aspects: First, the establishment of a presidential system and amending the constitution were passed with 347 votes in favor, 24 votes against, and 43 abstentions. Regarding the decisions on the relevant provisions, the second is to decide to convene the Extraordinary People’s Congress from March 12 to 13 to discuss and establish a presidential system, and agree to submit a draft law on the presidential system and amending the Constitution to the Extraordinary People’s Congress.

The fourth stage is to convene the Third Extraordinary People's Congress and formally establish the presidential system.

The Third Extraordinary People's Congress was originally scheduled to be held for two days. Due to the fierce debate, it was postponed for two days and ended on the 15th. Although the meeting stipulates that proposals require a 2/3 majority vote to be passed, there are still dozens of proposals and voting is frequent.

In the middle of the night on March 14, the Third Extraordinary Congress of the Soviet Union voted to elect the president. On March 15, the Soviet Union announced the results of the presidential election. 1,329 people voted in favor, accounting for 59.2% of the 2,245 registered representatives and 70.76% of the voting representatives. There were 495 representatives who voted against and 54 invalid votes. According to the law, a candidate who receives more than half of the votes of the total number of registered people's deputies of the Soviet Union at the time of voting is considered elected. At this point, Gorbachev was elected as the first president of the Soviet Union and sworn in for a five-year term.