Правление избрали вчера.

Because правление is not the subject here — it is the object.

• избрали = past tense, plural: (they) elected / chose
• правление = the board / governing body, in the accusative case

So the sentence means something like They elected the board yesterday.

A neuter singular subject would require избрало, not избрали. That is why Russian speakers understand that правление is the thing being elected, not the one doing the electing.

Russian often leaves out the subject when it is clear from the verb form or when the subject is indefinite.

Here, избрали literally means they elected, but Russian does not need to say они. In fact, using они here would usually sound less natural unless you specifically wanted to emphasize they.

This is a very common pattern in Russian:

• Меня позвали. = They called me / I was invited.
• Дом построили быстро. = They built the house quickly.

So избрали by itself can mean they elected.

It is in the accusative case, because it is the direct object of избрали.

The tricky part is that правление is:

• neuter
• singular
• inanimate

For many neuter inanimate nouns, the accusative looks exactly the same as the nominative. So:

• nominative: правление
• accusative: правление

That is normal in Russian.

We know from the verb agreement.

If правление were the subject, the verb would have to agree with it:

• Правление избрало вчера. = The board elected ... yesterday
  (grammatically possible in form, though it would need an object to complete the meaning)

But the actual sentence has:

• Правление избрали вчера.

Since избрали is plural, the subject must be understood as they. Therefore правление must be the object.

So even though правление looks like nominative, the verb tells you it is functioning as accusative here.

Russian word order is flexible, so the object can come first for emphasis, topic, or information structure.

Compare:

• Правление избрали вчера.
  Emphasis is often on the board as the thing elected.

• Вчера избрали правление.
  A more neutral Yesterday they elected the board.

• Избрали правление вчера.
  Possible, but less neutral and more context-dependent.

So putting правление first does not make it the subject. It mainly affects emphasis.

Избрали is from the perfective verb избрать, which presents the action as completed: the election happened and was finished.

That fits well with вчера:

• Правление избрали вчера. = They elected the board yesterday.

If you used an imperfective verb like выбирали, it would suggest the process, repetition, or ongoing activity:

• Правление выбирали вчера. = They were choosing/electing the board yesterday
  or They chose the board yesterday with more focus on the process, depending on context.

So избрали is the natural choice when talking about a completed election.

It usually means elected in formal or institutional contexts, but more broadly it comes from the idea of choosing/selecting.

So with a noun like правление, which refers to a governing body or board, избрали is naturally understood as elected.

In other contexts, related verbs can mean choose/select, but here elected is the best fit.

Yes. In Russian, правление is a singular noun.

It is a collective/institutional noun: one governing body made up of multiple people. English works the same way with words like committee, government, or board.

So Russian treats правление as grammatically singular even though it refers to a group.

In English, that is often a very natural translation.

Literally, the Russian sentence is closer to:

• They elected the board yesterday.

But English often prefers the passive in this kind of context:

• The board was elected yesterday.

So yes, that can be a good translation, even though the Russian grammar here is an active verb with an unspecified plural subject, not a passive form.

A more explicitly passive Russian version would be something like:

• Правление было избрано вчера.

Вчера means yesterday and functions as an adverb of time.

It tells you when the election happened.

Russian adverbs like вчера do not change form here, and they can move around fairly freely:

• Правление избрали вчера.
• Вчера избрали правление.
• Правление вчера избрали.

All are possible, with slightly different emphasis.

Yes, the basic meaning is very close: The board was elected yesterday.

The difference is mainly grammatical and stylistic:

• Правление избрали вчера.
  active form with an indefinite plural subject = They elected the board yesterday

• Правление было избрано вчера.
  passive construction = The board was elected yesterday

Russian often prefers the first type in everyday usage, while the passive version can sound more formal or written, depending on context.