1986 Far Eastern General Election

The 1986 Far Eastern general election was held on 18 July 1986 in the Far Eastern Republic to elect 654 members of the newly-established House of Delegates. It was the first election held in the national territory after de-facto independence obtained in 1985 and resulted in the conservative-oriented Yakutia 86 party being the largest voted list, however failed to gained a majority. On 29 July, a coalition government with the liberal Reform Party was made. The Progress electoral list announced their opposition to the new government, with Alexander Nazarov being nominated as Leader of the House Opposition.

Intense campaigning took place in multiple urban centers, including Bratsk, the regional capitals of Irkursk, Kyzyl, Vladivostok and up further in the North, in Yakutsk. The acting Prime Minister Irsin Golodar signed a decree on 21 August 1985 that scheduled regular elections for the House of Delegates for 18 July 1986, implementing the constitutional prerogative that all elections should be held on summer periods to accomodate citizens living in the far Northern provinces that, otherwise, had to go cast their votes during winter in extreme hostile temperatures. In Yakutsk, temperatures usually reached -65 C.

The main candidates were Sherig Orzhak, a former public administrator for the town of Saskilaksy, who founded his own political association in open contrast to communist ideals, Yakutia 86. The political ideology was mainly based on neoliberalism, national conservatism and Far Eastern traditionalism. Aleksander Nazarov, a soviet dissent that escaped in the East in 1984 founded a social-democratic movement based on the Scandinavian model and heavily opposed authoritarian socialism. Vladimir Biryukov, an western-educated economist and bureaucrat, created the neoliberal and center-right wing party Reform.

Background
In 1984, the Soviet Union showed significant economic stagnation and general weakness and was not able to respond properly to international events. Leonid Brezhnev legacy left a weaker and fragile state, with independence movements consolidating all over the union. On 10 November 1982, Brezhnev died and was subsequently succeded by Yuri Andropov, who ruled for less than two years, and indicated Konstantin Cherenko to lead, however since June 1984 he became permanently incapacitated and ruled from the room of his hotel, trasforming it into his office until the death in March 1985. At this point, several republics pressured Moscow for independence and increased freedoms. In the Far East, disorders were reported, organized by a political association called Yakutia 80 managed to unify several oblasts and administrative divisions inside a separate Soviet republic due to politicians infiltrating inside the local administrations. Eventually, in January 1986 the Far Eastern Soviet Socialist Republic became a "confederated entity", however, by March, despite this status, the Republic gained de-facto autonomy, formalized in 1989 with a new constitution and flag, and was recognized by all Western powers.