Election, 1989

• The March-April elections of 1989 was an important step in reducing the power of the Communist Party.
• Candidates were forced to engage in public debate in order to win votes.
• The Communists won 80% of the seats in the Congress of People’s deputies.
• 5 members of the Central Committee were defeated.
• Yeltsin won with 89% of the vote in Moscow.
• A group of newly elected deputies, like Yeltsin, and Sakharov formed the IRDG which embraced a radical anti-communist agenda including the introduction of private property and greater autonomy for the republics.
• The creation of the IRDG was important as it moved towards democracy because it became an organised opposition group with an official position within the Soviet system.