Gorbachev’s
Reforms
uGorbachev’s most concerted efforts were in the political arena, where he announced to the party Central Committee in January 1987 that it was time to inaugurate competitive elections presenting the voter with a multiplicity of candidates, replacing the no-choice ballots that had been universal since the 1920s.
uSeveral months
later the USSR constitution
was amended to safeguard electoral
choice among candidates and to
replace the Supreme Soviet with a 2250-member Congress of People’s Deputies.
