![]() Furthermore, Nicholas II had the power to dismiss the Duma and announce new elections whenever he wished article 87 allowed him to pass temporary (emergency) laws by decrees. The laws stipulated that ministers could not be appointed by, and were not responsible to, the Duma, thus denying responsible government at the executive level. ![]() Although no law could be made without the Duma's assent, neither could the Duma pass laws without the approval of the noble-dominated State Council (half of which was to be appointed directly by emperor), and the emperor himself retained a veto. On Ap( O.S.), he issued the Fundamental Laws, which gave him the title of "supreme autocrat". ![]() However, Nicholas II was determined to retain his autocratic power (in which he succeeded). ![]() The State Duma was to be the lower house of a parliament, and the State Council of Imperial Russia the upper house. In the subsequent October Manifesto, the emperor promised to introduce further civil liberties, provide for broad participation in a new "State Duma", and endow the Duma with legislative and oversight powers. Coming under pressure from the Russian Revolution of 1905, on Aug(O.S.), Sergei Witte (appointed by Nicholas II to manage peace negotiations with Japan after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905) issued a manifesto about the convocation of the Duma, initially thought to be a purely advisory body, the so-called Bulygin-Duma. ![]()
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