ABSTRACT
The Russian Federation has taken an important step in the transition away from institutions dominated by the Communist Party of the old Soviet Union—the dissolution of the hybrid national legislature that was created in the Gorbachev era. To some observers, this was an essential and inevitable step in the process of democratization. The deputies who make up the Congress were elected in national elections in 1990. Simultaneous with the elections of the RSFSR deputies in March of 1990, there were also elections to city and regional councils. There is by a small literature on the 1990 elections. The evolution of voting alignments and its connection to party development within the Congress must be seen in the context of the changing issues and political environment confronting the membership. The Congress conducted nine sessions over the 1990–1993 period. By the time the second Congress convened in late November 1990, the political situation in the country had changed appreciably.
