Frustrated by the old guard's resistance to his attempts to liberalise, Gorbachev changed tack and embarked upon a set of amendments to the 1977 Constitution to try and separate party and state, and thereby isolate his conservative opponents.

[citation needed] The month-long nomination of candidates for the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR (CPD) lasted until 24 January 1989.

For the next month, selection among the 7,531 districts nominees took place at meetings organized by constituency-level electoral commissions.

In the two weeks prior to the 1,500 districts polls, elections to fill 750 reserved seats of public organizations, contested by 880 candidates, were held.

Of these seats, 100 were allocated to the CPSU, 100 to the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, 75 to the Communist Youth Union (Komsomol), 75 to the Soviet Women's Committee, 75 to the All-Union War and Labour Veterans' Organization [ru], and 325 to other organizations such as the Academy of Sciences.

The Supreme Soviet, a "permanent legislative, administrative and central body of state authority of the USSR", was to be convened annually by its Presidium for its recurrent spring and autumn sessions to last, as a rule, three to four months each.