1993 Progressive Conservative leadership election, Candidates, Jim Edwards
MP for Edmonton Southwest, Alberta (1984–1993)Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Communications (1985-1986 and 1989-1991)Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (1988-1989)Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of State (Agriculture) (1991-1992)Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs (1991-1992)


1993 Progressive Conservative leadership election, Endorsements
Kim Campbell received the most endorsements from sitting MPs, with 43 backing her. 38 declared their support for Jean Charest, while 15 backed Jim Edwards. Patrick Boyer and Garth Turner were both sitting MPs and neither were supported by any other sitting MP.


1993 Progressive Conservative leadership election, Results
Though it was initially expected that Campbell's election as party leader would be little more than a formality, as the convention drew nearer it became apparent that Charest's candidacy was proving far more popular than Campbell and her team had expected, and that she might struggle to defeat him on the first round. Sure enough, Campbell narrowly failed to win outright, coming 60 delegates short of immediate victory. Charest placed a solid second, with none of the other candidates managing to break ten percent of the overall delegate count.


1993 Progressive Conservative leadership election, Results
Edwards, who had placed third, agreed to drop out and endorse Campbell prior to the second round, which gave her the support she needed to claim victory. Despite Edwards' endorsement, however, only about half of his delegates actually did move to support Campbell; the remaining half instead backed Charest, along with virtually all of Turner's and Boyer's delegates. This left Campbell's final total as 52.7% of the delegates, making this second-only to Joe Clark's shock win over Claude Wagner in 1976 as the most closely contested Progressive Conservative leadership contest.


1993 Puerto Rican status referendum
A referendum on the status of the island was held in Puerto Rico on 14 November 1993. Voters were given the choice between being a Commonwealth, statehood or independence. A plurality of voters voted for Commonwealth status, with a voter turnout of 73.5%.


1993 Puerto Rico Open
The 1993 Puerto Rico Open was a women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at the San Juan Central Park in San Juan in Puerto Rico that was part of the Tier IV category of the 1993 WTA Tour. It was the 11th edition of the tournament and was held from July 26 through August 1, 1993. Seventh-seeded Linda Harvey-Wild won the singles title and earned $27,000 first-prize money.


1993 Puerto Rico Open, Finals, Doubles
Debbie Graham /  Ann Grossman defeated  Gigi Fernández /  Rennae Stubbs 5–7, 7–5, 7–5


1993 Pulitzer Prize, Arts awards
Premiered December 30, 1992, in New York by the New York Philharmonic.


1993 Purdue Boilermakers football team
The 1993 Purdue Boilermakers football team was an American football team that represented Purdue University during the 1993 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Boilermakers competed in the Big Ten Conference, and played their home games at Ross–Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana. Purdue was led by head coach Jim Colletto, who was in his third season.


1993 Purdue Boilermakers football team
Purdue finished the season with a 1–10 record, 0–8 in Big Ten play, to finish in tenth place in the Big Ten Conference, failing to qualify for a bowl game. The team was the first Purdue team to go completely defeated in conference play since the 1946 Purdue Boilermakers football team.


1993 Purex Tennis Championships
The 1993 Purex Tennis Championships was an Association of Tennis Professionals men's tennis tournament held in Scottsdale, Arizona in the United States that was part of the World Series of the 1993 ATP Tour. It was the sixth edition of the tournament and was held from February 22 to February 28, 1993 Second-seeded Andre Agassi won the singles title and earned $39,600 first-prize money.


1993 Purex Tennis Championships, Finals, Doubles
Mark Keil /  Dave Randall defeated  Luke Jensen /  Sandon Stolle 7–5, 6–4


1993 Purex Tennis Championships – Doubles
Keil and Randall successfully defended their title, defeating Luke Jensen and Sandon Stolle 7–5, 6–4 in the final.


1993 Purex Tennis Championships – Singles
Stefano Pescosolido was the defending champion, but lost in the first round this year.


1993 Purex Tennis Championships – Singles
Andre Agassi won the title, defeating Marcos Ondruska 6–2, 3–6, 6–3 in the final.


1993 Qatar Open
The 1993 Qatar Open, known as the Qatar Mobil Open for sponsorship reasons, was an ATP Tour men's tennis tournament held in Doha, Qatar from 4 January until 11 January 1993.


1993 Qatar Open
The tournament saw third-seeded Boris Becker claim his 1st title of the year, and the 51st of his career.


1993 Qatar Open, Finals, Doubles
Boris Becker /  Patrik Kühnen defeated  Shelby Cannon /  Scott Melville, 6–2, 6–4


1993 Qatar Open – Doubles
Boris Becker and Patrik Kühnen won the title, defeating Shelby Cannon and Scott Melville 6–2, 6–4 in the final.


1993 Qatar Open – Singles
Boris Becker defeated Goran Ivanišević 7–6(7–4), 4–6, 7–5 to win the 1993 Qatar ExxonMobil Open singles competition.


1993 Quebec municipal elections
Eight hundred and thirty-one municipalities in the Canadian province of Quebec held municipal elections to elect mayors and councillors on November 7, 1993. Incumbent mayor Jean-Paul L'Allier was re-elected in Quebec City and his Rassemblement Populaire party won sixteen out of twenty council seats.


1993 Quebec municipal elections
Municipal elections were not held in Montreal, Quebec's largest city, in this electoral cycle. The previous municipal election in Montreal took place in 1990 and the next was scheduled for 1994.


1993 Quebec municipal elections, Results, Laval
Source: "Incumbents all re-elected in Montreal East voting," Montreal Gazette, 9 November 1993, A6.


1993 Quebec municipal elections, Verdun
Party colours have been randomly chosen and do not indicate affiliation with or resemblance to any municipal, provincial, or federal party.


1993 Quebec municipal elections, Verdun
Source: "Incumbents all re-elected in Montreal East voting," Montreal Gazette, 9 November 1993, A6.


1993 Queen's Birthday Honours (Australia)
The 1993 Queen's Birthday Honours for Australia were announced on Monday 14 June 1993 by the office of the Governor-General.


1993 Queen's Birthday Honours (Australia)
The Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's Official Birthday celebrations during the month of June.


1993 RP
1993 RP might be a trans-Neptunian object, perhaps 70 kilometers (43 miles) in diameter, from the Kuiper belt in the outermost Solar System. However, the object has only a 2-day observation arc, making the data insufficient to provide virtually any idea of its true orbit. It was first observed on 15 September 1993, by astronomers at the Mauna Kea Observatory, one night after (385185) 1993 RO and the night before (15788) 1993 SB.


1993 RP
On the discovery date of 15 September 1993 the object was estimated to have been 34 AU (5.1 billion km) from Earth with an uncertainty in the object's distance of ±200 billion km. Johnston's website generically lists it as a plutino, like Pluto, which are objects that stay in a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune.


1993 RP
Briefly observed objects like 1993 RP generally have many possible orbits that fit the very small dataset. 1993 RP could be a TNO/centaur or a much closer main belt asteroid 100 times smaller in diameter. For example, 2004 PR107 was once thought to be a potential dwarf planet, but is now known to be a small main belt asteroid.


1993 RP
As of 2018, the uncertainty in the object's distance from the Sun is ±7 trillion km (0.74 ly).


1993 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards
The 1993 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards (Chinese: 1993年度十大中文金曲得獎) was held in 1993 for the 1992 music season.


1993 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards, Top 10 song awards
The top 10 songs (十大中文金曲) of 1993 are as follows.


1993 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards, Other awards
(silver) Bruce Wooley, Lun Git-jing (倫潔瑩)(bronze) Gordon O'Yang (歐陽燊), Lei Siu-wei (李少蕙)


1993 Railway Cup Hurling Championship
The 1993 Railway Cup Hurling Championship was the 65th staging of the Railway Cup since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1927. The cup began on 10 October 1993 and ended on 7 November 1993. Connacht – the defending champions – were beaten by Leinster in the semi-final. On 7 November 1993, Leinster won the cup after a 1-15 to 2–06 defeat of Ulster in the final. This was their 20th Railway Cup title overall and their first title since 1988.


1993 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election
Legislative Assembly elections were held in the Indian state of Rajasthan in 1993. The Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress emerged as the two major political parties in this election.


1993 Ramada Hotel drownings
On April 7, 1993, three teenage boys died by drowning in a swimming pool at a Ramada Rolling Green Hotel in Andover, Massachusetts. The deaths resulted in a lawsuit against the Ramada and its owners. The drownings came at a time when many area hotels were being constructed without deep ends in their pools, or were renovating their pools to remove them, according to hospitality industry professionals.


1993 Ramada Hotel drownings, Background
The victims, twin brothers George and Vincent Chin (16) and their brother Winston (13), were from Brooklyn, New York. They were traveling with their uncle Steven Yee, who had paid for the three boys, two of their siblings, and his own three children to join him in a tour group to Boston.


1993 Ramada Hotel drownings, Drownings
The tour buses arrived at the Ramada Rolling Green Hotel in Andover just off Route 133 at around 9:30 p.m. Yee took a shower, while the boys, who did not know how to swim, went to the pool. The pool had a sign posted stating that it closed at 10 p.m.—it also stated that no one under 14 was allowed in the pool without adult supervision. No lifeguard was on duty, and Massachusetts law does not require one at hotel pools. Nor did the pool have a fence or a ladder in the deep end. Andover town law did not require fences around indoor pools; however, Ramada corporate standards did, the Chin family alleged that state law also required it. Their cousin began video-taping them as they played in the pool. The water was 9 feet (2.7 m) deep in the deep end.


1993 Ramada Hotel drownings, Drownings
According to police, at one point Vincent and Winston began moving toward the deep end, until the water was above their heads; their siblings thought they were just playing, but when they did not emerge, their siblings began yelling for help and threw them a life preserver. George dived into the pool in a rescue attempt, while his cousin went into the hotel to try to find someone to help. A pool maintenance man would later testify that he saw them playing in the pool but did not mention this fact to co-workers or managers.


1993 Ramada Hotel drownings, Drownings
At the time, the night manager and another employee were on the way to the pool to close it, but stopped to chat with the pool maintenance man, delaying their arrival. By the time they came to the pool, they found the boys already submerged. The night manager jumped into the pool and pulled them out. However, the employees lacked aquatic rescue skills and could not render further assistance.


1993 Ramada Hotel drownings, Drownings
Vincent was taken to Lawrence General Hospital in the neighboring town of Lawrence, while Winston was taken to St. John's Hospital (now Saints Medical Center) in Lowell; both were declared dead on arrival. George was still alive when removed from the pool, and was taken by helicopter to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where he was pronounced dead at 6:18 a.m. the following morning. The parents flew to Boston that day to identify the bodies and arrange their return to New York.


1993 Ramada Hotel drownings, Aftermath
About 500 mourners attended the boys' funeral, which was held on 13 April at the Wah Wing Sang Buddhist funeral home. Mayor David Dinkins spoke briefly. The Brooklyn Chinatown branches of the Lions Club and Kiwanis, together with the Chinese-American Voters' Association, started a fund to provide aid to the family, as the father was then unemployed. Ramada Rolling Green and its owners offered the Chin family a $1.8 million settlement in January 1996, which they rejected. Instead, they filed a wrongful death and negligence suit.


1993 Ramada Hotel drownings, Aftermath
They hoped to spark changes in Massachusetts law to require lifeguards at hotel pools, in the way that law in New York City already did. Jury selection was completed on January 29. During deliberations, one member of the jury was dismissed for reading a newspaper article about the case. The remaining members of the jury failed to reach a verdict. On February 16, presiding judge Nancy Gertner declared a mistrial.


1993 Recopa Sudamericana
The 1993 Recopa Sudamericana was the fifth Recopa Sudamericana, an annual football match between the winners of the previous season's Copa Libertadores and Supercopa Sudamericana competitions. This year's edition became the first final to be disputed between two clubs from the same nation and the second in South American club competitions. Due to schedule congestion, the first leg was played as part of the Campeonato Brasileiro.


1993 Recopa Sudamericana
The series was contested between São Paulo, winners of the 1992 Copa Libertadores, and Cruzeiro, winners of the 1992 Supercopa Sudamericana, in a two-legged series. Coached by the illustrious Telê Santana, São Paulo came away with the title after defeating Cruzeiro, appearing in their second consecutive final, 4-2 on penalties after a 0-0 tie to obtain the trophy for the first time. This became the 4th international title for São Paulo's golden generation. The series became notable as the legendary Ronaldo competed in an international competition for the first time ever only to fail to score during the penalty shoot-out.<ref> by Josef Bobrowsky on the RSSSF</reef>


1993 Republic of the Congo parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in the Republic of the Congo on 2 May 1993, with a second round in several constituencies on 6 June. The result was a victory for the Presidential Tendency coalition, which won 65 of the 125 seats in the National Assembly.


1993 Republika Srpska referendum
A two-part referendum was held in Republika Srpska on 15 and 16 May 1993. Voters were asked whether they approved of the Vance-Owen Peace Plan, and whether Republika Srpska should be able to join another country.


1993 Republika Srpska referendum
Although President Radovan Karadžić had signed the Vance-Owen Peace Plan on 30 April, it was rejected by the National Assembly on 6 May, and subsequently referred to a referendum. It was subsequently rejected by 97% of voters, whilst the proposal to allow the territory to join other countries was approved by a similar percentage.


1993 Rhode Island Rams football team
The 1993 Rhode Island Rams football team was an American football team that represented the University of Rhode Island in the Yankee Conference during the 1993 NCAA Division I-AA football season. In their first season under head coach Floyd Keith, the Rams compiled a 4–7 record (2–6 against conference opponents) and finished fourth in the New England Division of the Yankee Conference.


1993 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships
The 1993 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships is the 9th edition of the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships, which took place from 20 May to 23 May 1993 in Bucharest, Romania. This was the first edition of united senior and junior European Championships. From now on, in even years the seniors individual competitions and junior group competitions take place and in odd years the other way around.


1993 Rice Owls football team
The 1993 Rice Owls football team was an American football team that represented Rice University in the Southwest Conference during the 1993 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their fifth year under head coach Fred Goldsmith, the team compiled a 6–5 record.


1993 Richmond Kickers season
The 1993 Richmond Kickers season was the inaugural season for the club. In their first season of competitive soccer, the Kickers played in the United States Interregional Soccer League, which at the time served as the third division of the American soccer pyramid. The Kickers played their first season on the campus of the University of Richmond at the site of the former East Market Stadium.


1993 Richmond Kickers season
In the inaugural season the Kickers played in the Atlantic Division, where they finished in fourth place in the division, qualifying for the play-in round of the playoffs. Richmond defeated the Charleston Battery, who would eventually become bitter rivals with the team, as they were some of the few surviving clubs from the early 90s, in the play-in round, before eventually losing to the Greensboro Dynamo in the divisional playoff semifinals.


1993 Richmond Kickers season, Squad, Roster
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


1993 Richmond Kickers season, Squad, Team management
The following individuals were part of the club's management for the 1993 season.


1993 Roller Hockey World Cup
The 1993 Roller Hockey World Cup was the thirty-first roller hockey world cup, organized by the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports. It was contested by 12 national teams (8 from Europe, 2 from South America, 1 from North America and 1 from Africa). The tournament was played in the cities of Bassano del Grappa and Sesto San Giovanni, in Italy. This edition marks the debut of Andorra national hockey team.


1993 Romanian Open
The 1993 Romanian Open was an ATP men's tennis tournament held in Bucharest, Romania. It was the inaugural edition of the tournament and was held from 13 September through 19 September 1993.


1993 Romanian Open
Goran Ivanišević won his first title of the year, and seventh of his career.


1993 Romanian Open, Finals, Doubles
Menno Oosting /  Libor Pimek defeated  George Cosac /  Ciprian Petre Porumb 7–6, 7–6


1993 Rome municipal election
Municipal elections were held in Rome on 21 November and 5 December 1993 to elect the Mayor of Rome and 60 members of the City Council.


1993 Rome municipal election
For the first time under a new local electoral law, enacted on 25 March 1993, citizens could vote to directly elect the Mayor.


1993 Rome municipal election
As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a runoff was held between the top two candidates – Francesco Rutelli, a former radical deputy at that time one of the most prominent figure of the environmentalist Federation of the Greens (FdV) and Gianfranco Fini, Giorgio Almirante's pupil and national leader of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI) – which Rutelli finally won.


1993 Rome municipal election, Background
With the Law of 25 March 1993, n. 81 was introduced the direct election of Mayor. In this way the form of government of the city, previously attributed to a parliamentary model, was neared at semi-presidential system. The same law fixed four years term of office for Mayor, later extended to five years.


1993 Rome municipal election, Background
The first direct-election of the Mayor of Rome took place in a period of changes for the Italian politics: the scandal called Tangentopoli, which highlighted pervasive corruption in the Italian political system, exposed in the 1992 Mani Pulite investigations, led to the collapse of the  dominant Christian Democracy party and of its allies in the municipal politics.


1993 Rome municipal election, Background, Mayoral election
For the first time a leftist coalition, composed by the former-communist Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and some other progressives party, took part in the election, presenting Francesco Rutelli as its mayoral candidate. Rutelli was a young politician who had been a member of the Italian Radicals then a member of the newborn Federation of the Greens.


1993 Rome municipal election, Background, Mayoral election
The main opposition to Rutelli's coalition was represented by the neo-fascist candidate Gianfranco Fini. Fini was a young politician considered the inheritor of Giorgio Almirante's political knowledge in the Italian Social Movement (MSI). Fini and his party were quite popular in Rome: their popularity, originated from the Fascist regime, was increased by the political scandal which had invested the historical Christian Democracy (DC) and Italian Socialist Party (PSI). However Fini's popularity continued after the 1993 election, since all the candidates supported by the center-right coalition in the future elections would have been members of neo-fascist party National Alliance (AN).


1993 Rome municipal election, Background, Mayoral election
Although the political crisis, Christian Democracy (DC) presented its candidate, Carmelo Caruso, who was supported also by the weak Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI).


1993 Rome municipal election, Background, Mayoral election
Many other candidates took part in the election, all of them from very small parties, civic lists or associations. The most famous of this small party was the so-called Love Party, which was in favor of sexuality in a libertarian sense and for this reason decided to present as candidate for Mayor the famous pornstars Moana Pozzi.


1993 Rome municipal election, Background, Mayoral election
The election was distinguished by the active involvement of an unprecedented numbers of Italian nobles as either candidates or supporters, including members of the Barberini, Orsini, Chigi, and Borghese families.


1993 Rome municipal election, Voting System
The voting system is used for all mayoral elections in Italy, in the city with a population higher than 15,000 inhabitants. Under this system voters express a direct choice for the mayor or an indirect choice voting for the party of the candidate's coalition. If no candidate receives 50% of votes, the top two candidates go to a second round after two weeks. This gives a result whereby the winning candidate may be able to claim majority support, although it is not guaranteed.


1993 Rome municipal election, Voting System
The election of the City Council is based on a direct choice for the candidate with a preference vote: the candidate with the majority of the preferences is elected. The number of the seats for each party is determined proportionally.


1993 Rome municipal election, Parties and candidates
This is a list of the major parties (and their respective leaders) which participated in the election.


1993 Ronde van Nederland
These are the results for the 33rd edition of the Ronde van Nederland cycling race, which was held from August 16 to August 20, 1993. The race started in Leiden (South Holland) and finished in Valkenburg (Limburg).


1993 Rose Bowl
The 1993 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1993, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. In the 79th Rose Bowl; the #7 Michigan Wolverines, champions of the Big Ten, defeated the ninth-ranked Washington Huskies, champions of the Pac-10, 38–31. Michigan running back Tyrone Wheatley was named the Rose Bowl Player of the Game.


1993 Rose Bowl, Game summary
The game, one of the great contests in Rose Bowl history, was back and forth, with six lead changes. Michigan scored the final two touchdowns to win by seven points, avenging the previous year's loss and foiling the Huskies' attempt at a third straight Rose Bowl title. MVP Tyrone Wheatley scored three touchdowns and rushed for 235 yards on just 15 carries (15.7 avg.)


1993 Rose Bowl, Game summary
Michigan finished the season undefeated (with three ties) at 9–0–3, ranked #5 in the final polls. Washington (9–3) was ranked #1 in early November at 8-0, but losses to Arizona and Washington State, along with this one, dropped them to #11 (AP) and #10 (Coaches) in the final national rankings.


1993 Rose Bowl, Game summary
This turned out to be Don James' last game as the Huskies' head coach. He resigned in protest shortly before the beginning of the next season after the NCAA and Pac-10 levied sanctions against Washington for rules violations.


1993 Rosmalen Grass Court Championships
The 1993 Continental Grass Court Championships was an ATP-tennis tournament held in Rosmalen, Netherlands and was played on outdoor grass courts. It was the fourth edition of the tournament and was held from June 7 through June 13, 1993. Arnaud Boetsch won the singles title.


1993 Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, Finals, Doubles
Jonathan Stark /  Patrick McEnroe defeated  David Adams /  Andrei Olhovskiy 7–6, 1–6, 6–4


1993 Rosmalen Grass Court Championships – Singles
Michael Stich was the defending champion, but chose to compete at Queen's in the same week.


1993 Rosmalen Grass Court Championships – Singles
Arnaud Boetsch won the title by defeating Wally Masur 3–6, 6–3, 6–3 in the final.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens
The 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, Scotland, in April 1993. This tournament was the inaugural Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament. The International Rugby Board invited the established rugby union nations but also were keen to involve emerging nations in the event, recognising the fact that Sevens was providing the bridge between the developed rugby nations and those whose rugby union traditions were less well established.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens
The IRB situated the tournament in the spiritual home nation of rugby sevens, Scotland. The games were played at the home of Scottish rugby, Murrayfield Stadium.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens
England defeated Australia 21–17 to become the first team to win the Melrose Cup.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Background
Prior to 1993, Rugby Sevens had already built up a substantial international presence. The relative ease with which the rules could be learnt and applied, combined with the ability to quickly organise teams due to fewer players, as well as providing a fast-paced game for spectators enticed many nations to set up domestic tournaments, and appealed to a large international audience outside of the established power houses of the traditional 15-a-side game. Such was the international popularity of the game that the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) were able to organise a well attended International Tournament in 1973 to celebrate the centenary of the SRU. England came away victorious from that first international event.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Background
Soon after, in early 1975 the Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union, A.D.C. "Tokkie" Smith, was talking with tobacco company executive Ian Gow. Gow had been a spectator at the 1973 event and had proposed to Smith to sponsor a Rugby tournament with top teams from throughout the world competing. This gave rise to the inaugural Hong Kong Sevens on 28 March 1976. This tournament grew throughout the 1970s and 1980s in both supporter popularity and the number of participating teams. Sevens was proving to be the bridge between the established international rugby elite and those nations with less resources and less developed professional infrastructures.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Background
In the early 1990s, The SRU made a proposal to the International Rugby Football Board for the creation of a Rugby Sevens World Cup. The World Cup for the 15-a-side game had been staged successfully in 1987 and 1991 and had proved the worth of such an event. The IRB, which had a duty to involve and help to develop the rugby of the new member unions, recognised the value of Sevens to further this end, and their chairman, Vernon Pugh, enthusiastically agreed.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Background
Thus, the IRB organised the first officially sanctioned Rugby World Cup Sevens to be held at Murrayfield in April 1993. The ultimate prize of the competition was to be called the Melrose Cup, named after the small Scottish town of Melrose where the Sevens format had been born in 1883. A butchers apprentice and Melrose 20-a-side quarterback, Ned Haig, suggested having a rugby tournament as part of a sports day to raise funds at the end of the rugby season and his boss David Sanderson proposed playing in a tournament that required reduced numbers of players in each team. On 28 April 1883, the Melrose seven-a-side tournament began, with the time of each match limited to 15 minutes. The first World Cup was held 12 days shy of the 110th anniversary of that first tournament.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Qualification
Of the twenty-four nations involved, nineteen were invited and five had to go through pre-tournament qualification. Four of the qualification places were won by Namibia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Spain who booked their places by reaching the semi-finals of one qualifying event in Sicily. Latvia won their place by beating Russia in the final of a mini-tournament staged in Moscow to decide who would replace the USSR, which had broken up since its invite to the world cup.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Qualification
The invited participants were Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, Fiji, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Scotland, Tonga, South Africa, South Korea, USA, Wales and Western Samoa.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Format
The 24 nations were drawn into four pools of six teams with the top two progressing to the Melrose Cup, the third to the Plate and the fourth-placed teams contesting the Bowl competition. The groups were arranged thus:


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summary, First round
As expected, the leading nations all made it through. However, only South Africa, New Zealand and Western Samoa could boast unbeaten records at this stage. Fiji, Australia, Tonga, Ireland and England all lost one match in their respective pools. In Pool A Wales, lost to South Africa but distinguished themselves against the powerhouse of sevens rugby, Fiji, coming back from 21–0 down to lose narrowly 21–17. South Africa managed to overcome Fiji in their pool match. In Pool B Ireland had an excellent first round, beating United States 38–0.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summary, First round
They lost to New Zealand, who won the group, but finished second. Korea defeated France 14–0 and the French struggled to beat the Netherlands in an earlier tie. However, the French managed to qualify for the Bowl in fourth place, with the surprise being Korea making the Plate competition in third. In Pool C, the hosts Scotland finished fourth behind Argentina in third (although they ended with the same number of match points as the South Americans and had a better points difference they had lost to the Argentinians).


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summary, First round
The Scots managed to beat eventual group winners Tonga but lost to Australia and Argentina. Both Tonga and Australia lost one match each, and crucially Tonga beat the decider between the two sides meaning that Australia ended second in that group. In Pool D, eventual tournament winners England progressed well but were beaten by the Samoans but 28–10. Samoa went on to win the pool. Despite heavy defeats to England and Samoa, Spain managed to gain third spot just ahead of Canada.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summary, Quarterfinals
The quarterfinals were not knockout but took the form of another round robin with the teams split into two groups. Fiji emerged as the only nation with an unbeaten record after overcoming Ireland, Tonga and Western Samoa in the first. The second group was more fiercely contested with each nation claiming at least one victory. Australia and England who progressed to the semifinals despite their respective defeats by New Zealand and Australia. England had assumed they would top their group and avoid Fiji, even with a defeat to Australia in the final pool game.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summary, Quarterfinals
They opted to rest some first team players but expressed dismay in finding themselves placed second in the group behind Australia. The England team had thought that table placings in the event of a tied points tally were decided on tries scored. However, tournament rules stated that the first differentiator was results between the tied teams.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summary, Cup semifinals and finals
Although England lost to Australia in the quarters, they qualified for the semifinals against the favourites, Fiji. Dave Scully produced what was awarded the "Moment of the Tournament" prize with a tackle on Mesake Rasari that turned a certain Fiji try into an England score. England won 21–7. In the other semifinal Ireland were narrowly beaten 21–19 by the Australians, setting up a final between teams that had already met in the quarterfinal pools.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summary, Cup semifinals and finals
The final was contested by England and Australia. Just before half time, England led 21–0 through tries from Andrew Harriman, Lawrence Dallaglio and Tim Rodber, all converted by Nick Beal. Michael Lynagh scored a try before half time, but failed to convert his own try. In the second half Australia hit back strongly and first David Campese and then Semi Taupeaafe scored further tries, the latter also converted by Michael Lynagh. However, time ran out on the Australians and it was England captain "Prince" Andrew Harriman who was presented with the Melrose Cup by the Princess Royal.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summary, Cup semifinals and finals
Adedayo Adebayo, a member of that victorious side later recalled how surprising the victory had been to the players involved in it. He said "We were basically a scratch side. We got together for the first time as a team the week before, played one practice match and went on to win! But there were a lot of quality players in that side and looking back that's why we were able to wing it slightly – the talent came through. Looking back though we had no expectations of winning at the start. We didn't know how far we would go. It just happened."


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summary, Plate and Bowl
Wales had gone into the Plate competition as favourites based on their rousing display against Fiji. However, they were stunned by the Spanish side who beat them 10–7. Argentina meanwhile dominated South Korea and came through 24–0. They went on to win the final 19–12 against a Spanish side that had distinguished themselves enormously, coming from the position of one of the four pre-tournament qualifiers to reaching the final of the Plate competition.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summary, Plate and Bowl
Of the four teams contesting the Bowl, Scotland and France were the established nations but met each other in the semi-final. Scotland overcame the lacklustre French side 14–7, and Japan posted 14 points to Canada's nil to reach the final. Japan beat the hosts in the final in an impressive fashion winning 33–19. Princess Anne awarded the prizes and Scotland received tankards.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying
Of the twenty-four nations involved in 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, nineteen were invited and five had to go through pre-tournament 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying. Four of the qualification places were won by Namibia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Spain who booked their places by reaching the semi-finals of one qualifying event in Sicily. Latvia won their place by beating Russia in the final of a mini-tournament staged in Moscow to decide who would replace the USSR, which had broken up since its invite to the world cup.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying
The invited participants were Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, Fiji, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Scotland, Tonga, South Africa, South Korea, USA, Wales and Western Samoa.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying, Sicily (1992)
Seventeen nations came to Catania, Sicily, in May 1992 (from 29th to 31st) to battle for four qualifying spots in the finals in 1993. They were divided into three groups, five in one and six in the other two. Taiwan, Namibia, Spain and Hong Kong were the successful qualifiers after three group stages and three knockout rounds. The affair was complicated and confused.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying, Sicily (1992)
The group stages produced a situation where, by the transition from the second to the third groups, the lower ranked teams were better off losing to one another in order to face weaker opposition in stage 3. Also, the two teams with the best records leading into the quarter-finals, Namibia (played 8 won 8) and Zimbabwe (played 9 won 7, drawn 1, lost 1) ended up playing each other. Meanwhile, a Czechoslovakian side that had won just one match made it to the quarterfinals at the expense of Tunisia that had won 5 of 9.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying, Sicily (1992)
Determination of Pool Winners:All matches in the tournament carry the following points A Win 3 points, A Draw 2 points, A Loss 1 point. The team with the greatest number of points at the end of preliminary rounds would declared the winner. if teams at this stage are level on points then the winner shall be: (a) the winner of the match in which tied teams played. (b) the team that scored the most tries throughout the Round . (c) the team which has conceded the fewest tries throughout the Round.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying, Sicily (1992)
(d) the total points scored by each team in all matches in the Round shall be divided by total points scored against each team and the team with the higher quotient shall be the winner. Teams eliminated on either group stage participated in the Etna Cup mini-tournament alongside an invitational Sicily side.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying, Sicily (1992), Group stage 3
No team was eliminated from stage 2, just rearranged on new seedings that went into Pools H, I, L and M. These four pools of three teams each meant that each team had to play a further two matches and this process resulted in eight teams given a new seeding for the quarterfinals, with four teams eliminated, to play in the Etna Cup.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying, Sicily (1992), Etna Cup
The Sicilian team were completely fresh and faced opponents who in some cases had played nine draining games. Sicily entered Sunday having played a total of two games. The final was contested by Sicily and Tunisia. Although Tunisia led by 2 points when normal time expired, the Italian referee allowed play to continue until, in the fourteenth minute of the second half, the Sicilians scored.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying, Former USSR representative
Although the Soviet Union had originally been an invited team, it had subsequently collapsed and the former constituent nations, demanded their own qualifying event. This was held in Moscow where the Latvia team, in their first ever sporting event, overcame Ukraine and Kazakhstan to reach the final where they beat Russia to claim the last place in Edinburgh.


1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens squads
Here is an overview of the teams which took part at the 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens.


1993 Russian Figure Skating Championships
The 1993 Russian Figure Skating Championships (Russian: Чемпионат России по фигурному катанию на коньках 1993) took place in Chelyabinsk. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. The results were one of the criteria used to pick the Russian teams to the 1993 World Championships and the 1993 European Championships.


1993 Russian First League
The Russian First League 1993 was the 2nd edition of Russian First Division. There were 3 zones with 58 teams in total. The winner of each zone qualified for the promotion tournament to play against the teams that took places 14 to 16 in the 18-team Russian Top League 1993, 3 top teams from the tournament qualified for the Russian Top League 1994. For 1994 the Russian league system was reorganized, with First League reduced to one zone of 22 teams, so most of the 1993 Russian First League teams were relegated at the end of the season.


1993 Russian Indoor Athletics Championships
The 1993 Russian Indoor Athletics Championships (Russian: Чемпионат России по лёгкой атлетике в помещении 1993) was the 2nd edition of the national championship in indoor track and field for Russia. It was held on 27–28 February at the Alexander Gomelsky Universal Sports Hall CSKA in Moscow. A total of 28 events (14 for men and 14 for women) were contested over the two-day competition. For the first time at the national championships, women's pole vault was held.


1993 Russian Indoor Athletics Championships, Championships
In the winter of 1993, Russian championships were also held in individual athletics disciplines:


1993 Russian Indoor Athletics Championships, Results, Women
Lyudmila Narozhilenko was the original runner-up in the women's 60 m with a time of 7.18 seconds. However, she was subsequently disqualified as she had previously failed a doping test on 13 February 1993 at the Meeting Pas de Calais. Following a lengthy trial, the athlete was disqualified for four years, and her results after the test date were canceled in accordance with the rules, including her performance at the 1993 national indoor championships.


1993 Russian Indoor Athletics Championships, Russian 12-Hour Run Indoor Championships
The Russian 12-hour Run Indoor Championships was held on 30 January in Lipetsk in the athletics arena of the Yubileiny Sports Palace.


1993 Russian Indoor Athletics Championships, Russian Combined Events Indoor Championships
The Russian Combined Events Indoor Championships were determined on 5–6 February 1993 in St. Petersburg at the Winter Stadium.


1993 Russian Indoor Athletics Championships, 24-hour run
The Russian 24-Hour Run Indoor Championships were held on 27–28 February in Podolsk on the 133-meter circle of the arena of the local youth sports school. Nikolai Safin exceeded the previous world record with a distance of 275,576 m, but it was not officially recognised as a world record due to the uncertified length of the track.


1993 Russian Indoor Athletics Championships, International team selection
According to the results of the national championships, taking into account qualifying standards, the Russian team for the 1993 IAAF World Indoor Championships included:


1993 Russian Second League
The Russian Second League 1993 was the second edition of Russian Second Division. There were 7 zones with 124 teams in total. In 1994 the Russian League system was reorganized, with First League reduced to one tournament instead of 3 zones and new professional Third League organized, where most of the teams from the 1993 Second League ended up. No teams were promoted to the 1994 Russian First League.


1993 Russian Top League, Teams
18 teams are played in the 1993 season. After the 1992 season, Zenit St.Petersburg, Fakel Voronezh, Kuban Krasnodar, Shinnik Yaroslavl and Dinamo-Gazovik were relegated to the 1993 Russian First League. They were replaced by Zhemchuzhina-Sochi, winners of the 1992 Russian First League.


1993 Russian Top League, Promotion tournament
FC Rostselmash and FC Asmaral were relegated. FC Krylia Sovetov, FC Luch and FC Okean played in a promotion tournament against the winners of the three zones of the 1993 Russian First League, in which three spots in 1994 Russian Top League were contested. FC Krylia Sovetov kept their spot and FC Luch and FC Okean were relegated.


1993 Russian Top League, Medal squads
Goalkeepers: Gintaras Staučė  (13), Stanislav Cherchesov (13), Oleksandr Pomazun  (8). Defenders: Viktor Onopko (30 / 9), Ramiz Mamedov (30), Andrei Ivanov (29), Yuriy Nikiforov (23), Dmitri Khlestov (19 / 1), Dmitri Popov (13 / 1), Dmitri Ananko (11), Andrei Chernyshov (4), Aleksandr Bondar (2), Sergei Chudin (2), Dmitri Gradilenko (1). Midfielders: Valery Karpin (30 / 13), Igor Lediakhov (29 / 6), Andrei Piatnitski (29 / 6), Ilya Tsymbalar (26 / 3), Andrei Gashkin (11), Serhiy Pohodin  (2), Valery Kechinov (1). Forwards: Nikolai Pisarev (33 / 14), Fyodor Cherenkov (32 / 6), Vladimir Beschastnykh (29 / 18), Dmitri Radchenko (14 / 2), Sergey Rodionov (8), Andrey Tikhonov (7 / 2), Andrei Konovalov (1).


1993 Russian Top League, Medal squads
Transferred out during the season: Dmitri Radchenko, Dmitri Popov (both to  Racing de Santander), Stanislav Cherchesov (to  Dynamo Dresden), Andrei Chernyshov (to FC Dynamo Moscow), Aleksandr Bondar (to FC Terek Grozny), Dmitri Gradilenko (to FC Interros Moskovsky).


1993 Russian Top League, Medal squads
Goalkeepers: Andrei Manannikov  (34), Sergei Gritsenko (1). Defenders: Sergei Nechay (33 / 2), Volodymyr Gerashchenko  (32 / 2), Aleksandr Shmarko (31 / 1), Valeri Burlachenko (29 / 1), Aleksandr Yeshchenko (5), Sergey Kuznetsov (4). Midfielders: Oleg Veretennikov (33 / 19), Igor Menshchikov (31), Aleksandr Tsarenko (29 / 5), Andrei Kovalenko  (29 / 3), Aleksandr Zhidkov (29 / 2), Oleg Stogov (21), Aleksei Gerasimenko (14), Andrei Miroshnichenko  (2). Forwards: Valery Yesipov (31 / 8), Vladimir Niederhaus  (30 / 13), Oleg Nechayev (13), Aleksandr Nikitin (11), Yevgeni Shkilov (8), Yuri Konovalov (3).


1993 Russian Top League, Medal squads
Transferred out during the season: Yevgeni Shkilov (to  Hapoel Haifa F.C. ), Andrei Miroshnichenko  (to  FC Aktyubinets Aktyubinsk).


1993 Russian Top League, Medal squads
Goalkeepers: Valeri Kleymyonov (29), Andrei Smetanin (8), Dmitriy Kramarenko  (1). Defenders: Yuri Kovtun (27 / 1), Sergey Timofeev  (21 / 2), Vyacheslav Tsaryov (19), Aleksei Selezov (18), Andrei Chernyshov (14 / 1), Igor Varlamov (8), Sargis Hovhannisyan  (8), Igor Sklyarov (7 / 1), Maksim Layushkin (1). Midfielders: Omari Tetradze (32 / 4), Bakhva Tedeyev (30 / 8), Yuriy Kalitvintsev (26 / 3), Yevgeni Smertin (23 / 1), Sergei Krutov (22 / 3), Igor Dobrovolski (18 / 6), Sergei Derkach (12 / 1), Aleksei Savchenko (11), Sergei Nekrasov (10), Aleksei Filippov (6), Igor Gavrilin (2 / 1), Vladimir Kostyuk  (2). Forwards: Igor Simutenkov (33 / 16), Dmitri Cheryshev (22 / 7), Kirill Rybakov (19 / 5), Yuri Tishkov (16 / 4), Yuriy Hudymenko  (9 / 1), Nikolai Kovardayev (1).


1993 Russian Top League, Medal squads
Manager: Valery Gazzaev (until September), Adamas Golodets (caretaker, from September).


1993 Russian Top League, Medal squads
Transferred out during the season: Sergei Derkach (to  FC Basel), Nikolai Kovardayev (to FC Interros Moskovsky).


1993 Russian constitutional crisis
The 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, also known as the 1993 October Coup, Black October, the Shooting of the White House or Ukase 1400, was a political stand-off between the Russian president Boris Yeltsin and the Russian parliament that was resolved by military force. The relations between the president and the parliament had been deteriorating for some time.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis
The power struggle reached its crisis on 21 September 1993, when President Yeltsin intended to dissolve the country's highest body (Congress of People's Deputies) and parliament (Supreme Soviet), although the constitution did not give the president the power to do so. Yeltsin justified his orders by the results of the referendum of April 1993.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis
In response, the parliament declared the president's decision null and void, impeached Yeltsin and proclaimed vice president Aleksandr Rutskoy to be acting president. On 3 October, demonstrators removed police cordons around the parliament and, urged by their leaders, took over the Mayor's offices and tried to storm the Ostankino television centre. The army, which had initially declared its neutrality, stormed the Supreme Soviet building in the early morning hours of 4 October by Yeltsin's order, and arrested the leaders of the resistance. At the climax of the crisis, Russia was thought by some to be "on the brink" of civil war. The ten-day conflict became the deadliest single event of street fighting in Moscow's history since the Russian Revolution.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis
According to the General Prosecutor's Office, 147 people were killed and 437 wounded.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle
The Soviet Union broke up on 26 December 1991. Yeltsin's economic reform program took effect on 2 January 1992. Soon afterward prices skyrocketed, government spending was slashed, and heavy new taxes went into effect. A deep credit crunch shut down many industries and brought about a protracted depression. As a result, unemployment reached record levels. The program began to lose support; and the ensuing political confrontation between Yeltsin on the one side, and the opposition to radical economic reform on the other, became increasingly centered in the two branches of government.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle
Throughout 1992, opposition to Yeltsin's reform policies grew stronger and more intractable among bureaucrats concerned about the condition of Russian industry and among regional leaders who wanted more independence from Moscow. Russia's vice president, Aleksandr Rutskoy, denounced the Yeltsin program as "economic genocide". Indeed, during the first half of 1992, the average income of the population declined 2–2.5 times. Leaders of oil-rich republics such as Tatarstan and Bashkiria called for full independence from Russia.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle
Also throughout 1992, Yeltsin wrestled with the Supreme Soviet (the standing legislature) and the Russian Congress of People's Deputies (the country's highest legislative body, from which the Supreme Soviet members were drawn) for control over government and government policy. In 1992 the speaker of the Russian Supreme Soviet, Ruslan Khasbulatov, came out in opposition to the reforms, despite claiming to support Yeltsin's overall goals.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle
The president was concerned about the terms of the constitutional amendments passed in late 1991, which meant that his special powers of decree were set to expire by the end of 1992 (Yeltsin expanded the powers of the presidency beyond normal constitutional limits in carrying out the reform program). Yeltsin, awaiting implementation of his privatization program, demanded that parliament reinstate his decree powers (only parliament had the authority to replace or amend the constitution). But in the Russian Congress of People's Deputies and in the Supreme Soviet, the deputies refused to adopt a new constitution that would enshrine the scope of presidential powers demanded by Yeltsin into law.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle
Another cause of conflict also called repeated refusal of the Congress of People's Deputies to ratify Belavezha Accords on the termination of the existence of the USSR and to exclude from the text of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1978 references to the Constitution and laws of the USSR.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, Seventh Congress of People's Deputies
During its December session, the parliament clashed with Yeltsin on a number of issues, and the conflict came to a head on 9 December when the parliament refused to confirm Yegor Gaidar, the widely unpopular architect of Russia's "shock therapy" market liberalisations, as prime minister. The parliament refused to nominate Gaidar, demanding modifications of the economic program and directed the Central Bank, which was under the parliament's control, to continue issuing credits to enterprises to keep them from shutting down.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, Seventh Congress of People's Deputies
In an angry speech the next day on 10 December, Yeltsin accused the Congress of blocking the government's reforms and suggested the people decide on a referendum, "which course do the citizens of Russia support? The course of the President, a course of transformations, or the course of the Congress, the Supreme Soviet and its Chairman, a course towards folding up reforms, and ultimately towards the deepening of the crisis." Parliament responded by voting to take control of the parliamentary army.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, Seventh Congress of People's Deputies
On 12 December, Yeltsin and parliament speaker Khasbulatov agreed on a compromise that included the following provisions: (1) a national referendum on framing a new Russian constitution to be held in April 1993; (2) most of Yeltsin's emergency powers were extended until the referendum; (3) the parliament asserted its right to nominate and vote on its own choices for prime minister; and (4) the parliament asserted its right to reject the president's choices to head the Defense, Foreign Affairs, Interior, and Security ministries. Yeltsin nominated Viktor Chernomyrdin to be prime minister on 14 December, and the parliament confirmed him.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, Seventh Congress of People's Deputies
Yeltsin's December 1992 compromise with the seventh Congress of the People's Deputies temporarily backfired. Early 1993 saw increasing tension between Yeltsin and the parliament over the language of the referendum and power sharing. In a series of collisions over policy, the congress whittled away the president's extraordinary powers, which it had granted him in late 1991. The legislature, marshaled by Speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov, began to sense that it could block and even defeat the president. The tactic that it adopted was gradually to erode presidential control over the government. In response, the president called a referendum on a constitution for 11 April.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, Eighth congress
The eighth Congress of People's Deputies opened on 10 March 1993 with a strong attack on the president by Khasbulatov, who accused Yeltsin of acting unconstitutionally. In mid-March, an emergency session of the Congress of People's Deputies voted to amend the constitution, strip Yeltsin of many of his powers, and cancel the scheduled April referendum, again opening the door to legislation that would shift the balance of power away from the president. The president stalked out of the congress. Vladimir Shumeyko, first deputy prime minister, declared that the referendum would go ahead, but on 25 April.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, Eighth congress
The parliament was gradually expanding its influence over the government. On 16 March, the president signed a decree that conferred Cabinet rank on Viktor Gerashchenko, chairman of the central bank, and three other officials; this was in accordance with the decision of the eighth congress that these officials should be members of the government. The congress' ruling, however, had made it clear that as ministers they would continue to be subordinate to parliament. In general, the parliament's lawmaking activity decreased in 1993, as its agenda increasingly became dominated by efforts to increase the parliamentarian powers and reduce those of the president.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, "Special regime"
The president's response was dramatic. On 20 March, Yeltsin addressed the nation directly on television, declaring that he had signed a decree on a "special regime" ("Об особом порядке управления до преодоления кризиса власти"), under which he would assume extraordinary executive power pending the results of a referendum on the timing of new legislative elections, on a new constitution, and on public confidence in the president and vice-president. Yeltsin also bitterly attacked the parliament, accusing the deputies of trying to restore the Soviet-era order.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, "Special regime"
Soon after Yeltsin's televised address, Valery Zorkin (Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation), Yuri Voronin (first vice-chairman of the Supreme Soviet), Alexander Rutskoy and Valentin Stepankov (Prosecutor General) made an address, publicly condemning Yeltsin's declaration as unconstitutional. On 23 March, though not yet possessing the signed document, the Constitutional Court ruled that some of the measures proposed in Yeltsin's TV address were unconstitutional. However, the decree itself, that was only published a few days later, did not contain unconstitutional steps.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, Ninth congress
The ninth congress, which opened on 26 March, began with an extraordinary session of the Congress of People's Deputies taking up discussions of emergency measures to defend the constitution, including impeachment of President Yeltsin. Yeltsin conceded that he had made mistakes and reached out to swing voters in parliament. Yeltsin narrowly survived an impeachment vote on March 28, votes for impeachment falling 72 short of the 689 votes needed for a 2/3 majority.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, Ninth congress
The similar proposal to dismiss Ruslan Khasbulatov, the chairman of the Supreme Soviet was defeated by a wider margin (339 in favour of the motion), though 614 deputies had initially been in favour of including the re-election of the chairman in the agenda, a tell-tale sign of the weakness of Khasbulatov's own positions (517 votes for would have sufficed to dismiss the speaker).


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, Ninth congress
By the time of the ninth Congress, the legislative branch was dominated by the joint communist-nationalist Russian Unity bloc, which included representatives of the CPRF and the Fatherland faction (communists, retired military personnel, and other deputies of a socialist orientation), Agrarian Union, and the faction "Russia" led by Sergey Baburin. These groups, together with more 'centrist' groups (e.g. 'Change' (Смена)), left the opposing bloc of Yeltsin supporters ('Democratic Russia', 'Radical democrats') in a clear minority.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, National referendum
The referendum would go ahead, but since the impeachment vote failed, the Congress of People's Deputies sought to set new terms for a popular referendum. The legislature's version of the referendum asked whether citizens had confidence in Yeltsin, approved of his reforms, and supported early presidential and legislative elections. The parliament voted that in order to win, the president would need to obtain 50 percent of the whole electorate, rather than 50 percent of those actually voting, to avoid an early presidential election.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, National referendum
This time, the Constitutional Court supported Yeltsin and ruled that the president required only a simple majority on two issues: confidence in him, and economic and social policy; he would need the support of half the electorate in order to call new parliamentary and presidential elections.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, National referendum
On 25 April, a majority of voters expressed confidence in the president and called for new legislative elections. Yeltsin termed the results a mandate for him to continue in power. Before the referendum, Yeltsin had promised to resign, if the electorate failed to express confidence in his policies. Although this permitted the president to declare that the population supported him, not the parliament, Yeltsin lacked a constitutional mechanism to implement his victory. As before, the president had to appeal to the people over the heads of the legislature.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Intensifying executive-legislative power struggle, National referendum
On 1 May, antigovernment protests organized by the hardline opposition turned violent. Numerous deputies of the Supreme Soviet took part in organizing the protest and in its course. One OMON police officer suffered fatal injuries during the riot. As a reaction, a number of the representatives of Saint Petersburg intelligentia (e.g., Oleg Basilashvili, Alexey German, Boris Strugatsky) sent a petition to president Yeltsin, urging "putting an end to the street criminality under political slogans".


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Constitutional convention
On 29 April 1993, Boris Yeltsin released the text of his proposed constitution to a meeting of government ministers and leaders of the republics and regions, according to ITAR-TASS.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Constitutional convention
On 12 May Yeltsin called for a special assembly of the Federation Council, which had been formed 17 July 1990 within the office of the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, and other representatives, including political leaders from a wide range of government institutions, regions, public organizations, and political parties, to finalize a draft for a new constitution from 5–10 June, and was followed by a similar decree 21 May.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Constitutional convention
After much hesitation, the Constitutional Committee of the Congress of People's Deputies decided to participate and present its own draft constitution. Of course, the two main drafts contained contrary views of legislative-executive relations.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, Constitutional convention
Some 700 representatives at the conference ultimately adopted a draft constitution on 12 July that envisaged a bicameral legislature and the dissolution of the congress. But because the convention's draft of the constitution would dissolve the congress, there was little likelihood that the congress would vote itself out of existence. The Supreme Soviet immediately rejected the draft and declared that the Congress of People's Deputies was the supreme lawmaking body and hence would decide on the new constitution.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, July–September
The parliament was active in July-August, while the president was on vacation, and passed a number of decrees that revised economic policy in order to "end the division of society." It also launched investigations of key advisers of the president, accusing them of corruption. The president returned in August and declared that he would deploy all means, including circumventing the constitution, to achieve new parliamentary elections.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, July–September
In July, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation confirmed the election of Pyotr Sumin to head the administration of the Chelyabinsk oblast, something that Yeltsin had refused to accept. As a result, a situation of dual power existed in that region from July to October in 1993, with two administrations claiming legitimacy simultaneously. Another conflict involved the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation regarding the regional presidency in Mordovia. The court delegated the question of legality of abolishing the post of the region's president to the Constitutional Court of Mordovia. As a result, popularly elected President Vasily Guslyannikov, member of the pro-Yeltsin Democratic Russia movement, lost his position. Thereafter, the state news agency (ITAR-TASS) ceased to report on a number of Constitutional Court decisions.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, July–September
The Supreme Soviet also tried to further foreign policies that differed from Yeltsin's line. Thus, on 9 July 1993, it passed resolutions on Sevastopol, "confirming the Russian federal status" of the city. Ukraine saw its territorial integrity at stake and filed a complaint to the Security Council of the UN. Yeltsin condemned the resolution of the Supreme Soviet.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, July–September
In August 1993, a commentator reflected on the situation as follows: "The President issues decrees as if there were no Supreme Soviet, and the Supreme Soviet suspends decrees as if there were no President." (Izvestiya, August 13, 1993).


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, July–September
The president launched his offensive on 1 September when he attempted to suspend Vice President Rutskoy, a key adversary. Rutskoy, elected on the same ticket as Yeltsin in 1991, was the president's automatic successor. A presidential spokesman said that he had been suspended because of "accusations of corruption", due to alleged corruption charges, which was not further confirmed. On 3 September, the Supreme Soviet rejected Yeltsin's suspension of Rutskoy and referred the question to the Constitutional Court.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Origins, July–September
Two weeks later Yeltsin declared that he would agree to call early presidential elections provided that the parliament also called elections. The parliament ignored him. On 18 September, Yeltsin then named Yegor Gaidar, who had been forced out of office by parliamentary opposition in 1992, a deputy prime minister and a deputy premier for economic affairs. This appointment was unacceptable to the Supreme Soviet.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault
On 21 September, Yeltsin declared the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet dissolved; this act was in contradiction with a number of articles of the Constitution of 1978 (as amended 1989–1993), such as, Article 1216 which stated:


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault
The powers of the President of Russian Federation cannot be used to change the national and state organization of the Russian Federation, to dissolve or to interfere with the functioning of any elected organs of state power. In this case, his powers cease immediately.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault
In his television appearance to the citizens of Russia, President Yeltsin argued for the decree nr 1400 as follows:


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault
Already more than a year attempts were made to reach a compromise with the corps of deputies, with the Supreme Soviet. Russians know well that how many steps were taken by my side during the last congresses and between them. ... The last days destroyed once and for all the hopes for a resurrection of at least some constructive cooperation. The majority of the Supreme Soviet goes directly against the will of the Russian people.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault
A course is taken in favour of the weakening of the president and ultimately his removal from office, of the disorganization of the work of the government; during the last months, dozens of antipopular decisions have been prepared and passed. ... Lots of these are deliberately planned to worsen the situation in Russia. The more flagrant ones are the so-called economic policies of the Supreme Soviet, its decisions on the budget, privatization, there are many others that deepen the crisis, cause colossal damage to the country.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault
All attempts of the government undertaken to at least somewhat alleviate the economic situation meet incomprehension. There is hardly a day when the cabinet of ministers is not harassed, its hands are not being tied. And this happens in a situation of a deepest economic crisis. The Supreme Soviet has stopped taking into account the decrees of the president, his amendments of the legislative projects, even his constitutional veto rights. Constitutional reform has practically been pared down. The process of creating rule of law in Russia has essentially been disorganized.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault
To the contrary, what is going on is a deliberate reduction of the legal basis of the young Russian state that is even without this weak. The legislative work became a weapon of political struggle. Laws, that Russia urgently needs, are not being passed for years. ... For a long time already, most of the sessions of the Supreme Soviet take place with the infringements of the elementary procedures and order... A cleansing of committees and commissions is taking place.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault
Everyone who does not show up personal loyalty to its leader is being mercilessly expelled from the Supreme Soviet, from its presidium. ... This is all a bitter evidence of the fact that the Supreme Soviet as a state institution is currently in a state of decay ... . The power in the Supreme Soviet has been captured by a group of persons who have turned it into an HQ of the intransigent opposition. ...


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault
The only way how to overcome the paralysis of the state authority in the Russian Federation is its fundamental renewal on the basis of the principles of popular power and constitutionality. The constitution currently in force does not allow to do this. The constitution in force also does not provide for a procedure of passing a new constitution, that would provide for a worthy exit from the crisis of state power. I as the guarantor of the security of our state have to propose an exit from this deadlock, have to break this vicious circle.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault
At the same time, Yeltsin repeated his announcement of a constitutional referendum, and new legislative elections for December. He also repudiated the Constitution of 1978, declaring that it had been replaced with one that gave him extraordinary executive powers. According to the new plan, the lower house would have 450 deputies and be called the State Duma, the name of the Russian legislature before the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The Federation Council, which would bring together representatives from the 89 subdivisions of the Russian Federation, would assume the role of an upper house.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault
Yeltsin claimed that by dissolving the Russian parliament in September 1993 he was clearing the tracks for a rapid transition to a functioning market economy. With this pledge, he received strong backing from the leading powers of the West. Yeltsin enjoyed a strong relationship with the Western powers, particularly the United States, but the relationship made him unpopular with many Russians. In Russia, the Yeltsin side had control over television, where hardly any pro-parliament views were expressed during the September–October crisis.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Parliament purports to impeach Yeltsin as president
Rutskoy called Yeltsin's move a step toward a coup d'état. The next day, the Constitutional Court held that Yeltsin had violated the constitution and could be impeached. During an all-night session, chaired by Khasbulatov, parliament declared the president's decree null and void. Rutskoy was proclaimed acting president until new elections. He dismissed the key ministers Pavel Grachev (defense), Nikolay Golushko (security), and Viktor Yerin (interior). Russia now had two presidents and two ministers of defense, security, and interior. It was dual power in earnest. Although Gennady Zyuganov and other top leaders of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation did not participate in the events, individual members of communist organizations actively supported the parliament.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Parliament purports to impeach Yeltsin as president
On 23 September, with the observance of a quorum, the Congress of People's Deputies was convened (the quorum was 638). Congress purported to impeach Yeltsin. The same day, Yeltsin announced presidential elections for June 1994.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Parliament purports to impeach Yeltsin as president
On 24 September, the Congress of People's Deputies voted to hold simultaneous parliamentary and presidential elections by March 1994. Yeltsin scoffed at the parliament-backed proposal for simultaneous elections, and responded the next day by cutting off electricity, phone service, and hot water in the parliament building.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Mass protests and the barricading of the parliament
Yeltsin also sparked popular unrest with his dissolution of a Congress and parliament increasingly opposed to his neoliberal economic reforms. Tens of thousands of Russians marched in the streets of Moscow seeking to bolster the parliamentary cause. The demonstrators were protesting against the deteriorating living conditions. Since 1989, the GDP had been declining, corruption was rampant, violent crime was skyrocketing, medical services were collapsing and life expectancy falling. Yeltsin was also increasingly getting the blame. Outside Moscow, the Russian masses overall were confused and disorganized.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Mass protests and the barricading of the parliament
Nonetheless, some of them also tried to voice their protest, and sporadic strikes took place across Russia. The protesters included supporters of various communist (Labour Russia) and nationalist organizations, including those belonging to the National Salvation Front. A number of armed militants of Russian National Unity took part in the defense of the White House, as reportedly did veterans of Tiraspol and Riga OMON. The presence of Transnistrian forces, including the KGB detachment 'Dnestr', stirred General Alexander Lebed to protest against Transnistrian interference in Russia's internal affairs.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Mass protests and the barricading of the parliament
On 28 September, Moscow saw the first bloody clashes between the special police and anti-Yeltsin demonstrators. Also on the same day, the Interior Ministry moved to seal off the parliament building. Barricades and wire were put around the building. On 1 October, the Interior Ministry estimated that 600 fighting men with a large cache of arms had joined Yeltsin's political opponents in the parliament building.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the television premises
The Congress of People's Deputies still did not discount the prospect of a compromise with Yeltsin. The Russian Orthodox Church acted as a host to desultory discussions between representatives of the Congress and the president. The negotiations with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch as mediator continued until 2 October. On the afternoon of 3 October, Moscow police failed to control a demonstration near the White House, and the political impasse developed into armed conflict.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the television premises
On 2 October, supporters of parliament constructed barricades and blocked traffic on Moscow's main streets. Rutskoi signed a decree that had no practical consequences on the release of Viktor Chernomyrdin from the post of Prime Minister.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the television premises
On the afternoon of 3 October, armed opponents of Yeltsin successfully stormed the police cordon around the White House territory, where the Russian parliament was barricaded. Paramilitaries from factions supporting the parliament, as well as a few units of the internal military (armed forces normally reporting to the Ministry of Interior), supported the Supreme Soviet.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the television premises
Rutskoy greeted the crowds from the White House balcony, and urged them to form battalions and to go on to seize the mayor's office and the national television center at Ostankino. Khasbulatov also called for the storming of the Kremlin and imprisoning "the criminal and usurper Yeltsin" in Matrosskaya Tishina. At 16:00 Yeltsin signed a decree declaring a state of emergency in Moscow.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the television premises
On the evening of 3 October, after taking the mayor's office located in the former Comecon HQ nearby, pro-parliament demonstrators and gunmen led by General Albert Makashov moved toward Ostankino, the television center. But the pro-parliament crowds were met by Interior Ministry units and special forces who took positions in and around the TV complex. A pitched battle followed. Part of the TV center was significantly damaged. Television stations went off the air and 46 people were killed, including Terry Michael Duncan, an American lawyer, who was in Moscow to establish a law firm and was killed while attempting to help the wounded. Before midnight, the Interior Ministry's units had turned back the parliament loyalists.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the television premises
When broadcasting resumed late in the evening, vice-premier Yegor Gaidar called on television for a meeting in support of democracy and President Yeltsin "so that the country would not be turned yet again into a huge concentration camp". A number of people with different political convictions and interpretations over the causes of the crisis (such as Grigory Yavlinsky, Alexander Yakovlev, Yuri Luzhkov, Ales Adamovich, and Bulat Okudzhava) also appealed to support the President. Similarly, the Civic Union bloc of 'constructive opposition' issued a statement accusing the Supreme Soviet of having crossed the border separating political struggle from criminality. Several hundred of Yeltsin's supporters spent the night in the square in front of the Moscow City Hall preparing for further clashes, only to learn in the morning of 4 October that the army was on their side.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the television premises
The Ostankino killings went unreported by Russian state television. The only independent Moscow radio station's studios were burnt. Two French, one British, and one American journalist were killed by sniper fire during the massacre. A fifth journalist died from a heart attack. The press and broadcast news were censored starting on 4 October, and by the middle of October, prior censorship was replaced by punitive measures.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the White House
Between 2–4 October, the position of the army was the deciding factor. The military equivocated for several hours about how to respond to Yeltsin's call for action. By this time dozens of people had been killed and hundreds had been wounded.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the White House
Rutskoy, as a former general, appealed to some of his ex-colleagues. After all, many officers and especially rank-and-file soldiers had little sympathy for Yeltsin. But the supporters of the parliament did not send any emissaries to the barracks to recruit lower-ranking officer corps, making the fatal mistake of attempting to deliberate only among high-ranking military officials who already had close ties to parliamentary leaders. In the end, a prevailing bulk of the generals did not want to take their chances with a Rutskoy-Khasbulatov regime. Some generals had stated their intention to back the parliament, but at the last moment moved over to Yeltsin's side.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the White House
The plan of action was proposed by Captain Gennady Zakharov. Ten tanks were to fire at the upper floors of the White House, with the aim of minimizing casualties but creating confusion and panic amongst the defenders. Five tanks were deployed at Novy Arbat bridge and the other five at Pavlik Morozov playground, behind the building. Then, special troops of the Vympel and Alpha units would storm the parliament premises. According to Yeltsin's bodyguard Alexander Korzhakov, firing on the upper floors was also necessary to scare off snipers.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the White House
By sunrise on 4 October, the Russian army encircled the parliament building, and a few hours later army tanks began to shell the White House, punching holes in the front of it. At 8:00 am Moscow time, Yeltsin's declaration was announced by his press service. Yeltsin declared:


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the White House
Those, who went against the peaceful city and unleashed bloody slaughter, are criminals. But this is not only a crime of individual bandits and pogrommakers. Everything that took place and is still taking place in Moscow is a pre-planned armed rebellion. It has been organized by Communist revanchists, Fascist leaders, a part of former deputies, the representatives of the Soviets. Under the cover of negotiations they gathered forces, recruited bandit troops of mercenaries, who were accustomed to murders and violence. A petty gang of politicians attempted by armed force to impose their will on the entire country.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the White House
The means by which they wanted to govern Russia have been shown to the entire world. These are the cynical lie, bribery. These are cobblestones, sharpened iron rods, automatic weapons and machine guns. Those, who are waving red flags, again stained Russia with blood. They hoped for the unexpectedness, for the fact that their impudence and unprecedented cruelty will sow fear and confusion.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the White House
Fascist-communist armed rebellion in Moscow shall be suppressed within the shortest period. The Russian state has necessary forces for this.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the White House
By noon, troops entered the White House and began to occupy it, floor by floor. Rutskoy's desperate appeal to Air Force pilots to bomb the Kremlin was broadcast by the Echo of Moscow radio station but went unanswered. He also tried to have the Chairman of the Constitutional Court, Valery Zorkin, call the Western embassies to guarantee Rutskoy's and his associates' safety – to no avail. Hostilities were stopped several times to allow some in the White House to leave. By mid-afternoon, popular resistance in the streets was completely suppressed, barring occasional sniper fire.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the White House
The "second October Revolution", as mentioned, saw the deadliest street fighting in Moscow since 1917. The official list of the dead, presented on July 27, 1994 by the investigation team of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, includes 147 people: in Ostankino – 45 civilians and 1 serviceman, in the "White House area" – 77 civilians and 24 military personnel of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Storming of the White House
Some claim Yeltsin was backed by the military only grudgingly, and only at the eleventh hour. The instruments of coercion gained the most, and they would expect Yeltsin to reward them in the future. A paradigmatic example of this was General Pavel Grachev, who had demonstrated his loyalty during this crisis. Grachev became a key political figure, despite many years of charges that he was linked to corruption within the Russian military.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Public opinion on crisis
The Russian public opinion research institute VCIOM, a state-controlled agency, conducted a poll in the aftermath of October 1993 events and found out that 51% of the people polled thought that the use of military force by Yeltsin was justified and 30% thought it was not justified. This support for Yeltsin's actions declined in later years. When VCIOM-A asked the same question in 2003, only 20% agreed with the use of the military, with 57% opposed.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Public opinion on crisis
When asked about the main cause of the events of 3–4 October, 46% in the 1993 VCIOM poll blamed Rutskoy and Khasbulatov. However, ten years following the crisis, the most popular culprit was the legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev with 31%, closely followed by Yeltsin's policies with 29%.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Siege and assault, Public opinion on crisis
In 1993, a majority of Russians considered the events of 21 September–4 October as an attempt of Communist revanche or as a result of Rutskoy and Khasbulatov seeking personal power.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Yeltsin's consolidation of power, Immediate aftermath
On 5 October 1993, the newspaper Izvestiya published the open letter "Writers demand decisive actions of the government" to the government and President signed by 42 well-known Russian literati and hence called the Letter of Forty-Two. It was written in reaction to the events and contained the following seven demands:


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Yeltsin's consolidation of power, Immediate aftermath
In the weeks following the storming of the White House, Yeltsin issued a barrage of presidential decrees intended to consolidate his position. On 5 October, Yeltsin banned political leftist and nationalist organizations and newspapers like Den', Sovetskaya Rossiya and Pravda that had supported the parliament (they would later resume publishing). In an address to the nation on 6 October, Yeltsin also called on those regional Soviets that had opposed him—by far the majority—to disband. Valery Zorkin, chairman of the Constitutional Court, was forced to resign. The chairman of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions was also sacked. The anti-Yeltsin TV broadcast 600 Seconds of Alexander Nevzorov was ultimately closed down.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Yeltsin's consolidation of power, Immediate aftermath
Yeltsin decreed on 12 October that both houses of parliament would be elected in December. On 15 October, he ordered that a popular referendum be held in December on a new constitution. Rutskoy and Khasbulatov were charged on 15 October with "organizing mass disorders" and imprisoned. On 23 February 1994, the State Duma amnestied all individuals involved in the events of September–October 1993. They were later released in 1994 when Yeltsin's position was sufficiently secure. In early 1995, the criminal proceedings were discontinued and were eventually placed into the archives.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Yeltsin's consolidation of power, Immediate aftermath
"Russia needs order," Yeltsin told the Russian people in a television broadcast in November in introducing his new draft of the constitution, which was to be put to a referendum on 12 December. The new basic law would concentrate sweeping powers in the hands of the president. The bicameral legislature, to sit for only two years, was restricted in crucial areas. The president could choose the prime minister even if the parliament objected and could appoint the military leadership without parliamentary approval. He would head and appoint the members of a new, more powerful security council.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Yeltsin's consolidation of power, Immediate aftermath
If a vote of no confidence in the government was passed, the president would be enabled to keep it in office for three months and could dissolve the parliament if it repeated the vote. The president could veto any bill passed by a simple majority in the lower house, after which a two-thirds majority would be required for the legislation to be passed. The president could not be impeached for contravening the constitution.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Yeltsin's consolidation of power, Immediate aftermath
The central bank would become independent, but the president would need the approval of the State Duma to appoint the bank's governor, who would thereafter be independent of the parliament. At the time, most political observers regarded the draft constitution as shaped by and for Yeltsin and perhaps unlikely to survive him.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Yeltsin's consolidation of power, End of the first constitutional period
On 12 December, Yeltsin managed to push through his new constitution, creating a strong presidency and giving the president sweeping powers to issue decrees.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Yeltsin's consolidation of power, End of the first constitutional period
However, the parliament elected on the same day (with a turnout of about 53%) delivered a stunning rebuke to his neoliberal economic program. Candidates identified with Yeltsin's economic policies were overwhelmed by a huge protest vote, the bulk of which was divided between the Communists (who mostly drew their support from industrial workers, out-of-work bureaucrats, some professionals, and pensioners) and the ultra-nationalists (who drew their support from disaffected elements of the lower middle classes). Unexpectedly, the most surprising insurgent group proved to be the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky. It gained 23% of the vote while the Gaidar led 'Russia's Choice' received 15.5% and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, 12.4%. LDPR leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, alarmed many observers abroad with his neo-fascist and chauvinist declarations.


1993 Russian constitutional crisis, Yeltsin's consolidation of power, End of the first constitutional period
Nevertheless, the referendum marked the end of the constitutional period defined by the constitution adopted by the Russian SFSR in 1978, which was amended many times while Russia was a part of Mikhail Gorbachev's Soviet Union. Although Russia would emerge as a dual presidential-parliamentary system in theory, substantial power would rest in the president's hands. Russia now has a Prime Minister who heads a cabinet and directs the administration, but the system is an example of presidentialism with the cover of a presidential prime minister, not an effective semi-presidential constitutional model. (The premier, for example, is appointed, and in effect freely dismissed, by the president.)


1993 Russian constitutional referendum
A constitutional referendum was held in Russia on 12 December 1993. The new constitution was approved by 58.4% of voters, and came into force on 25 December.


1993 Russian constitutional referendum, Background
Since 1992, President Boris Yeltsin had been arguing that the 1978 constitution was obsolete and needed replacing. He called for a new constitution which would grant more powers to the President. However, two competing drafts of a new constitution were drawn up by the government and the Congress of People's Deputies. Failure of the two groups to reach a compromise led to Yeltsin dissolving the Congress of People's Deputies in September 1993, leading to a constitutional crisis.


1993 Russian constitutional referendum, Background
Yeltsin then called a Constitutional Assembly that was sympathetic to his views. The Assembly subsequently drafted a constitution that provided for a strong presidency, and was published on 11 November.


1993 Russian constitutional referendum, Name
This referendum was officially named "nationwide voting" (Russian: всенародное голосование, romanized: vsenarodnoye golosovaniye) in documents.


1993 Russian constitutional referendum, Name
Раздел второйЗаключительные и переходные положения1. Конституция Российской Федерации вступает в силу со дня официального ее опубликования по результатам всенародного голосования.


1993 Russian constitutional referendum, Name
Second SectionConcluding and Transitional Provisions1. The Constitution of the Russian Federation shall come into force from the moment of its official publication according to the results of a nationwide voting.


1993 Russian constitutional referendum, Results
Voter turnout was officially reported as 54.4%, over the 50% threshold required to validate the referendum. However, doubts remained over the accuracy of the turnout figure, exacerbated by the quick destruction of ballots and area tallies.


1993 Russian government referendum
A four-part referendum was held in Russia on 25 April 1993. Voters were asked questions on confidence in President Boris Yeltsin, support for the government's socio-economic policies and early elections for both the presidency and parliament. The referendum was initiated by the Congress of People's Deputies, which stipulated that Yeltsin would need to obtain 50% of the electorate, rather than 50% of valid votes. However, the Constitutional Court ruled that the president required only a simple majority on two issues: confidence in him, and economic and social policy; though he would still need the support of more than half the electorate in order to call new parliamentary and presidential elections.


1993 Russian government referendum
Three of the four questions were approved by a majority of voters.


1993 Russian gubernatorial elections
Gubernatorial elections in 1993 took place in twelve regions of the Russian Federation.


1993 Russian gubernatorial elections, Race summary
Following the escalation of 1993 Russian constitutional crisis the governors had to choose whether to support the parliament or the president. Those who chose the losing side, were later removed from office by the president. Among them were governors of Amur and Bryansk Oblasts Aleksandr Surat and Yury Lodkin, both serving only six months.


1993 Russian legislative election
Parliamentary elections were held in Russia on 12 December 1993. They were the first parliamentary elections in post-Soviet Russia and the last to the Federation Council, with future members appointed by provincial legislatures and governors.


1993 Russian legislative election, Background
The 1993 general election was taking place in the aftermath of the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, a violent confrontation on the streets of Moscow which resulted in the dissolution of the previous Russian parliament by military force. Yeltsin hoped to resolve the political turmoil by decreeing for the election to the new Russian parliament and the constitutional referendum to take place on 12 December 1993.


1993 Russian legislative election, Electoral system
The new election law adopted for the 1993 Duma election stipulated half the 450 Duma members were elected by a party-list system of proportional representation, and half were elected as individual representatives from single-member districts. Every Russian voter thus received two different ballots. The proportional representation ballot required each voter to endorse an electoral organization or vote against all of them. By contrast, the single-member district ballot required a voter to endorse an individual, whose party affiliation, if any, could not be given on the ballot.


1993 Russian legislative election, Electoral system
In order to nominate a list of candidates in the proportional representation ballot, a party or electoral organization had to gather 100,000 signatures from the electorate, of which no more than 15% could be from any one region or republic. The method used to calculate the number of seats won by each party was the Hare method, with a threshold of 5.0 per cent of the valid vote, including votes cast against all, but excluding invalid ballots. To secure a place on a single-member district ballot, candidates had to gather the signatures of at least 1.0 percent of the constituency electorate. The winner in each single-member districts contest was simply the candidate with plurality of votes, regardless of the number of votes cast against all.


1993 Russian legislative election, Results, State Duma
Five seats in Tatarstan were left vacant due to a low turnout (less than 25%) and were elected at a later date, whilst one seat in Chechnya remained unfilled.


1993 Russian legislative election, Results, Federation Council
Five seats were elected at a later date, whilst two seats in Chechnya remained unfilled.


1993 Russian legislative election, Results, Federation Council
Although the Federation Council was contested on a non-party basis, 11 were members of the Communist Party, six were members of Russia's Choice and nine were members of other parties.


1993 Russian legislative election, Aftermath
The results of the polls proved to be disappointing for the Kremlin: the two competing pro-government parties, Russia's Choice and the Party of Russian Unity and Accord, gained 15.5% and 6.7% of the vote respectively and won 123 of the 450 seats in the State Duma. Neither party was able to control the parliamentary agenda nor impose the will of the president on the Duma. Lacking legislative success, both parties rapidly lost membership.


1993 Russian legislative election, Aftermath, Parliamentary groups
The use of the mixed system for the election of the Duma produced a large number of deputies which were unaffiliated with any electoral bloc. By joining other parliamentary groups or forming groups of independent deputies, they could significantly influence the balance of power in the Duma. Hence, the parliamentary groups in the first two-year term of the Duma showed lack of stability and its numbers may be given only with approximation.


1993 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team
The 1993 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represented Rutgers University in the 1993 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their fourth season under head coach Doug Graber, the Scarlet Knights compiled a 4–7 record, outscored their opponents 351 to 334, and finished in seventh place in the Big East Conference. The team's statistical leaders included Ray Lucas with 1,011 passing yards, Terrell Willis with 1,261 rushing yards, and Chris Brantley with 589 receiving yards.