Kaliningrad Oblast

Table of Contents

Russian Regional Report

Candidates for 6 October Gubernatorial Election

The incumbent head of administration, Yurii Matochkin, who is supported by the All-Russian Coordinating Council, was appointed by President Yeltsin in September 1991. He is a member of the Our Home Is Russia bloc. In 1993, he was elected to the Federation Council, where he was member of the committee on international affairs.

Leonid Gorbenko, the director of the Kaliningrad seaport, is the only viable opposition candidate.

Pro-communist candidate Yurii Semenov is currently deputy chairman of the local Duma. He was chairman of the oblast soviet from 1990 until it was disbanded in 1993. He protested against the decision to dissolve the soviet, submitting an appeal to the Supreme Court. In the 1993 Federation Council election, he won third place. Observers give him little chance of winning.

Other Local Leaders

Chairman of the local Duma: Valerii Ustyugov (since April 1994)

Brief History

Kaliningrad Oblast is the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, an exclave situated between Poland and Lithuania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. With a total area of 15,000 sq. km, it is Russia's smallest oblast. The city of Kaliningrad was founded in 1255 as Koenigsberg during German expansion eastward. After World War II, it was assigned to the USSR and received its current name. The main industries in the oblast are engineering, electronics, the processing of agricultural and forestry products, and the production and processing of amber.

Basic Facts

1995 Population: 926,400 (0.62% of Russian total)

Industrial production as percentage of all Russian production (Jan.-Aug. 1995): 0.30%

Agricultural production as percentage of all Russian production (1994): 0.60%

Average personal income index in July 1995: 83 (Russia as a whole = 100)

Price basket index in July 1995: 99 (Russia = 100)

Average back wages owed per person (September 1995): 25,800 rubles (Russian average = 37,100)

Urban population: 78.1% (Russia overall: 73.0%)

Student population (1993): 125 per 10,000 (Russia overall: 171/10,000)

Pensioner population (1994): 21.2%

Percent of population with higher education (1989 census): 12.4% (Russia overall: 11.3%)

Percent of population working in (1993):

Number of telephones per 100 families (1993):

According to a survey by Bank Austria, the oblast was ranked 17th among Russia's 89 regions on investment climate.

Electoral History


1996 Presidential Election
Candidate Turnout
in First Round
Turnout
in Second Round
Yeltsin 33.46% 57.69%
Zyuganov 23.08% 35.34%
Lebed 19.31% NA
Zhirinovsky 7.2% NA
Yavlinskii 12.85% NA
Overall Turnout (Kaliningrad Oblast) 71.71% 69.18%
Overall Turnout (Russia) 69.67% 68.79%


1995 Parliamentary Election
Party Result
Communist Party of the Russian Federation 19.30%
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 11.44%
Congress of Russian Communities 9.18%
Our Home Is Russia 8.55%
Yabloko 8.16%
Party of Worker's Self-Government 4.78%
Women of Russia 4.68%
Communists - Workers' Russia 3.37%
Russia's Democratic Choice 3.26%
Agrarian Party of Russia 1.30%
Turnout in Kaliningrad Oblast 63.77%
Turnout in Russia 64.37%
In a single-member district: one independent.


1993 Constitutional Referendum
Yes 64.38%
No 32.68%


1993 Parliamentary Election
Party Result
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 29.96%
Russia's Choice 19.96%
Communist Party of the Russian Federation 10.40%
Women of Russia 7.98%
Yabloko 7.94%
Democratic Party of Russia 7.58%
Party of Russian Unity and Concord 5.21%
Agrarian Party of Russia 3.03%
Turnout in Kaliningrad Oblast 59.81%
Turnout in Russia overall 54.34%

From electoral associations: 1 Liberal Democratic Party of Russia

In a single-member district: 1 New Regional Policy


1991 Presidential Election
Candidate Result
Yeltsin 39.09%
Ryzhkov 23.76%
Zhirinovsky 12.93%
Tuleev 7.54%
Makashov 4.56%
Bakatin 4.09%
Turnout in Kaliningrad Oblast 74.12%
Russia 76.66%

Sources

Goroda Rossii [Cities of Russia], Moscow: Bolshaya Rossiiskaya Entsiklopediya, 1994

Rossiiskie regiony nakanune vyborov-95 [Russian regions on the eve of 1995 elections], Moscow: Yuridicheskaya Literatura, 1995.

Itogi vyborov 17 dekabrya 1995 goda po regionam [Results of the 17 December 1995 elections, regional breakdown], Moscow: Panorama, 1996.

Vybory deputatov Gosudarstvennoi Dumy 1995 [State Duma elections 1995], Moscow: Central Electoral Commission, 1996.

S. A. Nagaev and A. Woergoetter: Regional Risk Rating in Russia, (Vienna: Bank Austria, 1995).


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