VOTING IN RUSSIA

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28539, 19 March 1958, Page 13

VOTING IN RUSSIA

Huge Number At Polls (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON. March 17. The Moscow Radio said tonight that more than 113 trillion people, or 99.97 per cent, of the total electorate, voted in national elections yesterday to the Supreme Soviet.

The Radio said that 99.57 per cent, of those who went to the polls voted for candidates of the Communist and non-party bloc to the Soviet of the Union and 99.72 per cent for the official candidates to the Soviet of Nationalities.

There was only one candidate for each seat in the Supreme Soviet, but voters could cross out the names of the approved candidates and substitute any other name of their own choice. In the elections, more than 420,000 voters invalidated their vote either by writing in the name of another candidate on the voting paper or by violating electoral procedure. Soviet voters may exercise their constitutional right to write in the name of a candidate of their own choice on the ballot paper, but this automatically rules out their support for the candidate nominated by party and workers' organisations. Votes may also be lost if the voter crosses out the candidate’s printed name on the ballot paper The greatest statistical surprise in the election was the increase in the total electorate from 120 million in 1954 to more than 133 million, partly because of the increasing longevity of Soviet citizens.