Romanian general election, 1946 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Romanian general election of 1946 was a general election

General election

In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...

held on November 19, 1946, in Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

. Officially, it was carried with 79.86% of the vote by the Romanian Communist Party

Romanian Communist Party

The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...

(PCR), its allies inside the Bloc of Democratic Parties (Blocul Partidelor Democrate, BPD), and its associates — the Hungarian People's Union

Hungarian People's Union

The Hungarian People's Union was a left-wing political party active in Romania between 1934 and 1953, claiming to represent the Hungarian community...

(UPM or MNSz), the pro-government splinter group from the opposition National Peasants' Party

National Peasants' Party

The National Peasants' Party was a Romanian political party, formed in 1926 through the fusion of the Romanian National Party from Transylvania and the Peasants' Party . It was in power between 1928 and 1933, with brief interruptions...

(PNŢ), formed around Nicolae L. Lupu

Nicolae L. Lupu

Dr. Nicolae Lupu was a Romanian politician and medical doctor, active in the National Peasants' Party....

, and the Jewish Democratic Committee (Comitetul Democratic Evreiesc). The event marked a decisive step towards the disestablishment of the Romanian monarchy

Kingdom of Romania

The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...

and the proclamation of a Communist regime

Communist Romania

Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...

at the end of the following year. Breaking with the traditional universal male suffrage confirmed by the 1923 Constitution

1923 Constitution of Romania

The 1923 Constitution of Romania, also called the Constitution of Union, was intended to align the organisation of the state on the basis of universal male suffrage and the new realities that arose after the Great Union of 1918. Four draft constitutions existed: one belonging to the National...

, it was the first national election

Elections in Romania

Romania elects on a national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a five year term by the people . The Romanian Parliament has two chambers...

to witness women's suffrage

Women's suffrage

Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...

, and the first to allow active public officials and Romanian Army personnel the right to vote. The BPD, representing the incumbent leftist

Left-wing politics

In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

government formed around Prime Minister Petru Groza

Petru Groza

Petru Groza was a Romanian politician, best known as the Prime Minister of the first Communist Party-dominated governments under Soviet occupation during the early stages of the Communist regime in Romania....

, was an electoral alliance

Electoral alliance

An electoral alliance may take the form of a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc. It is an association of political parties or individuals which exists solely to stand in elections...

comprising the PCR, the Social Democratic Party

Romanian Social Democratic Party (defunct)

The Romanian Social Democratic Party was a social-democratic political party in Romania. It published the magazine România Muncitoare, and later Socialismul, Lumea Nouă, and Libertatea.-Early party:...

(PSD), the Ploughmen's Front

Ploughmen's Front

The Ploughmen's Front was a Romanian left-wing agrarian-inspired political organisation of ploughmen, founded at Deva in 1933 and led by Petru Groza. At its peak in 1946, the Front had over 1 million members.-History:...

, the National Liberal Party-Tătărescu, the PNŢ splinter group of Anton Alexandrescu and the Union of Patriots.

In general, commentators agree that the grouping carried the vote through widespread intimidation tactics and electoral fraud

Electoral fraud

Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...

, to the detriment of both the PNŢ and the National Liberal Party

National Liberal Party (Romania)

The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...

(PNL). While there is disagreement over the exact results, it is contended that the BPD and its allies did not receive more than 48% of the total (according to several estimates, the actual votes for the PNŢ allowed it to form government, either on its own or as part of a coalition). Instead, the elections awarded the BPD a crushing majority inside the new and unicameral

Unicameralism

In government, unicameralism is the practice of having one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Thus, a unicameral parliament or unicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of one chamber or house...

Parliament

Parliament of Romania

The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...

— it had 348 mandates on its own (379 with its allies), whereas the PNŢ was awarded 32 mandates and the PNL only 3.

Carried out upon the close of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, under Romania's occupation

Soviet occupation of Romania

The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania...

by Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

troops, the 1946 Romanian election has drawn comparisons to the similarly flawed elections held at the time in most of the emerging Eastern Bloc

Eastern bloc

The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...

(in Albania

Military history of Albania during World War II

The Albanian Resistance of World War II was a movement of largely Communist persuasion directed against the occupying Italian and then German forces in Albania, which led to the successful liberation of the country in 1944....

, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia: 1945-1948

During World War II, Czechoslovakia disappeared from the map of Europe. The re-emergence of Czechoslovakia as a sovereign state was not only the result of the policies of the victorious Western allies, France, Britain, and the United States, but also an indication of the strength of the...

, and Poland

History of Poland (1945–1989)

The history of Poland from 1945 to 1989 spans the period of Soviet Communist dominance imposed after the end of World War II over the People's Republic of Poland...

), being considered, in respect to its formal system of voting, among the most permissive of the latter.

Context

Following its exit from the Axis

Axis Powers

The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...

in late 1944, Romania became subject to Allied

Allies of World War II

The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

supervision (see Romania during World War II
Romania during World War II
Following the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the Kingdom of Romania officially adopted a position of neutrality. However, the rapidly changing situation in Europe during 1940, as well as domestic political upheaval, undermined this stance. Fascist political forces such as the Iron...

, Allied Commission
Allied Commission
Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allied Powers were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far Eastern Advisory Commission to make recommendations...

). After the Yalta Conference

Yalta Conference

The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, held February 4–11, 1945, was the wartime meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D...

in February 1945, Soviet authorities had increased their presence in Romania, as Western Allied

Western Allies

The Western Allies were a political and geographic grouping among the Allied Powers of the Second World War. It generally includes the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth, the United States, France and various other European and Latin American countries, but excludes China, the Soviet Union,...

governments resorted to expressing largely inconsequential criticism of new procedures in place. After the Potsdam Conference

Potsdam Conference

The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 16 July to 2 August 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States...

, the latter group initially refused to recognize Groza's administration, which had been imposed after Soviet pressure.

Consequently, King

King of Romania

King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....

Michael I

Michael I of Romania

Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...

refused to sign legislation advanced by the cabinet (this was the so-called Greva regală, "Royal strike

Strike action

Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

"). On November 8, 1945, authorities repressed a spontaneous gathering of Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

ers in front of the Royal Palace

National Museum of Art of Romania

The National Museum of Art of Romania is located in the former royal palace in Revolution Square, central Bucharest, Romania, completed in 1937...

— demonstrators flocked to the plaza in front of the palace as a means to express their solidarity with the monarch (on the Orthodox liturgics

Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar

The Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar describes and dictates the rhythm of the life of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Associated with each date are passages of Holy Scripture, Saints and events for commemoration, and many times special rules for fasting or feasting that correspond to the day of...

Saint Michael's Day

November 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Nov. 7 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - Nov. 9-Fixed commemorations:All fixed commemorations below are observed on November 21 by Old Calendarists-Saints:...

). Depicting the event as a coup d'état

Coup d'état

A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

attempt, authorities fired on the crowd, killing around 10 people. In January 1946, the "Royal strike" itself ended with Groza agreeing to include politicians from outside his electoral alliance, appointing two members of opposition parties (the National Liberal Mihail Romaniceanu and the National Peasants' Emil Haţieganu

Emil Hatieganu

Emil Haţieganu was a Romanian politician and jurist, a prominent member of the Romanian National Party and of its successor, the National Peasants' Party ; he was physician Iuliu Haţieganu's brother...

) as Ministers without Portfolio

Minister without Portfolio

A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...

(the gesture also brought it Western Allied recognition).

In mid-December 1945, the representatives of the three major Allied Powers — Andrey Vyshinsky

Andrey Vyshinsky

Andrey Januaryevich Vyshinsky – 22 November 1954) was a Soviet politician, jurist and diplomat.He is known as a state prosecutor of Joseph Stalin's Moscow trials and in the Nuremberg trials. He was the Soviet Foreign Minister from 1949 to 1953, after having served as Deputy Foreign...

from the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, W. Averell Harriman

W. Averell Harriman

William Averell Harriman was an American Democratic Party politician, businessman, and diplomat. He was the son of railroad baron E. H. Harriman. He served as Secretary of Commerce under President Harry S. Truman and later as the 48th Governor of New York...

from the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, and Archibald Clerk-Kerr from the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

— visited the capital Bucharest

Bucharest

and agreed for elections to be convened in May 1946, on the basis of the Yalta Agreements

Yalta Conference

. Nevertheless, and despite opposition protests, the pro-Soviet Groza cabinet took the liberty to prolong the term, passing the required new electoral procedure on June 17.

On the same day, Groza signed a decree to disestablish the Senate

Senate of Romania

The Senate of Romania is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 137 seats , to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts , to serve four-year terms.-Former location:After the Romanian...

, turning the Parliament into a unicameral legislature

Unicameralism

, the Assembly of Deputies (Adunarea Deputaţilor). The new legislation, breaking with the provisions of the 1923 Constitution

1923 Constitution of Romania

, was made possible by the fact that Groza was governing without a parliament (the last legislature to have functioned, that of the National Renaissance Front

National Renaissance Front

The National Renaissance Front was a fascist Romanian political party created by King Carol II in 1938 as the single monopoly party of government following his decision to ban all other political parties and suspend the 1923 Constitution, and the passing of the 1938 Constitution of Romania...

, had been dissolved in 1941). The Senate was traditionally considered reactionary

Reactionary

The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...

by the PCR, and its end was arguably meant to facilitate control over the legislative process. The BPD government also removed the majority bonus

Majority bonus

Majority bonus is a feature in an electoral system, which gives the party with the most votes extra seats or representation in an elected body. It is used in Italy, Greece and Malta.-References:...

, traditionally awarded to the party that had obtained more than 40% of the total suffrage.

The election coincided with the deterioration of relations between the Soviet Union and the West at the start of the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

, notably marked by Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

's "Iron Curtain

Iron Curtain

The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...

" speech at Westminster College

Westminster College, Missouri

Westminster College is a private, selective, liberal arts institution in Fulton, Missouri, USA. It was founded by Presbyterians in 1849 as Fulton College and assumed the present name in 1851. The are located on the campus. The National Churchill Museum is a national historic site and includes...

on March 5, 1946, and the centering of Western Allied interest in turning the tide of the Civil War

Greek Civil War

The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...

in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. The intricate issues posed by the latter contributed to weakening ties between the Romanian opposition groups and their Western supporters, as the country appeared to be a lost cause for capitalism

Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...

.

The date of the election coincided with the fourth anniversary of Operation Uranus

Operation Uranus

Operation Uranus was the codename of the Soviet strategic operation in World War II which led to the encirclement of the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romanian armies, and portions of the German Fourth Panzer Army. The operation formed part of the ongoing Battle of Stalingrad, and was...

, the moment when Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

and Romania suffered a major defeat on the Eastern Front

Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...

. According to his private notes, General Constantin Sănătescu

Constantin Sanatescu

Constantin Sănătescu was a Romanian statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Romania after the August 23, 1944 coup, through which Romania left the Axis Powers and joined the Allies....

, an adversary of the PCR and former Premier, presumed that this had been done on purpose ("in order to mock us").

BPD

Following Romania's exit from the war, left-wing

Left-wing politics

In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

parties had increased their membership several times. The PCR, which held its first open and legal conference on October 1945, had begun a massive recruitment campaign, benefited from an influx of former members of the fascist

Fascism

Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

Iron Guard

The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...

. By 1947, it grew to over 700,000 members from an initial 1,000 in 1944 (the constant growth in membership was by far the highest of all Eastern Bloc

Eastern bloc

The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...

countries).

Similarly, the Ploughmen's Front

Ploughmen's Front

, which Groza presided, was estimated to have 1,000,000-1,500,000 members or just 800,000. In early November 1946, Communist sources show that the BPD counted on 60 to 65% of its projected gains to be obtained from the Front's electorate (the poorest peasant categories). By the time of the election, Groza's party had just been pressured into supporting Communist tenets, after it a brief conflict had erupted over the PCR's designs of collectivization.

The Social Democratic Party

Romanian Social Democratic Party (defunct)

(PSD), which had been drawn into close collaboration with the PCR as early as 1944 (as part of the Singular Workers' Front, Frontul Unic Muncitoresc), had also seen a steady growth in numbers; the PSD was by then dominated by the pro-PCR wing of Ştefan Voitec

Stefan Voitec

Ştefan Voitec was a Romanian socialist and communist journalist, politician, and statesman of Communist Romania.-Biography:...

and Lothar Rădăceanu

Lothar Radaceanu

Lothar or Lotar Rădăceanu was a Romanian journalist and linguist, best known as a socialist and communist politician.-Early life and politics:...

, who purged the staunchly Reformist

Reformism

Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...

group of Constantin Titel Petrescu

Constantin Titel Petrescu

Constantin Titel Petrescu was a Romanian politician and lawyer. He was the leader of the Romanian Social Democratic Party.He was born in Craiova, the son of an employee of the National Bank in Bucharest...

's in March 1946 (leading the latter to establish his as a minor independent group). The Communist Ana Pauker

Ana Pauker

Ana Pauker was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s...

noted with dissatisfaction that certain members of the PSD continued to remain hostile to her party (she cited the example of an unnamed intellectual

Intellectual

An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...

and low-ranking member of the PSD who, during a BPD meeting, shouted a slogan in support of the PNŢ's Iuliu Maniu

Iuliu Maniu

Iuliu Maniu was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician. A leader of the National Party of Transylvania and Banat before and after World War I, he served as Prime Minister of Romania for three terms during 1928–1933, and, with Ion Mihalache, co-founded the National Peasants'...

).

As a representative of the middle class

Middle class

The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....

, the National Liberal Party-Tătărescu itself had an uneasy relation with the PCR, having declared its support for capitalism

Capitalism

.

According to a Communist report by the time of the election, the Hungarian People's Union

Hungarian People's Union

The Hungarian People's Union was a left-wing political party active in Romania between 1934 and 1953, claiming to represent the Hungarian community...

(UPM or MNSz), which represented the Hungarian minority, was in relatively tense relations with the PCR (who suspected it of "chauvinism

Chauvinism

Chauvinism, in its original and primary meaning, is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a belief in national superiority and glory. It is an eponym of a possibly fictional French soldier Nicolas Chauvin who was credited with many superhuman feats in the Napoleonic wars.By extension it has come...

" over the issue of Northern Transylvania

Northern Transylvania

Northern Transylvania is a region of Transylvania, situated within the territory of Romania. The population is largely composed of both ethnic Romanians and Hungarians, and the region has been part of Romania since 1918 . During World War II, as a consequence of the territorial agreement known as...

). It was, however, instrumental in securing Transylvanian votes for the government coalition, as admitted by the PCR itself. The other ethnic grouping inside the BPD, the Jewish Committee, was created on April 22, 1946, when PCR representatives organized an intrusion into the representative bodies of the Jewish-Romanian

History of the Jews in Romania

The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....

community.

At the time, government-backed Communists had infiltrated the vast majority of the media and cultural institutions. On one occasion, the Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

general Ivan Susaykov warned Nicolae Carandino

Nicolae Carandino

Nicolae Carandino was a Romanian journalist, pamphleteer, translator, dramatist, and politician.He was born in Brăila into a family of intellectuals. After completing high school in Brăila in 1923, he went to college in Bucharest, graduating in 1926...

, editor-in-chief of the PNŢ's Dreptatea
Dreptatea
Dreptatea was a Romanian newspaper that appeared between 17 October 1927 and 17 July 1947, as a newspaper of the National Peasants' Party. It was re-founded on February 5, 1990 as a publication of the Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party ....

, to tone down his criticism of the BPD, and argued that "the Groza government is Soviet Russia itself".

New legislation

The new legislation provided for the end of universal male suffrage, proclaiming the right to vote

Suffrage

Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...

for all citizens over the age of 21, while restricting it for all persons who had held important office during the wartime dictatorship of Conducător
Conducator
Conducător was the title used officially in two instances by Romanian politicians, and earlier by Carol II.-History:...

Ion Antonescu

Ion Antonescu

Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...

. The latter requirement facilitated abuse, as power to decide over who had been supporting the regime fell to "purging commissions", all of them controlled by the PCR, and the Romanian People's Tribunals

Romanian People's Tribunals

The two Romanian People's Tribunals , the Bucharest People's Tribunal and the Northern Transylvania People's Tribunal were set up by the post-World War II government of Romania, overseen by the Allied Control Commission to try suspected war criminals, in line with Article 14 of the Armistice...

(investigating war crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s, and constantly supported by agitprop

Agitprop

Agitprop is derived from agitation and propaganda, and describes stage plays, pamphlets, motion pictures and other art forms with an explicitly political message....

in the Communist press).

The decision to allow military men and public officials to vote was also intended to secure a grip on elections. At the time, Groza's cabinet exercised complete control over public administration at central and local levels, and had taken charge of all communications between these and the population. Soviet sources cited PCR officials giving assurances that the respective categories were to provide as much as 1 million votes for the BPD.

A report of the Soviet Embassy in Bucharest, dated August 15, 1946, informed Andrey Vyshinsky

Andrey Vyshinsky

of the legislative changes and made note of the fact that the two opposition leaders, Iuliu Maniu

Iuliu Maniu

(leader of the PNŢ) and Dinu Brătianu

Dinu Bratianu

Dinu Brătianu , born Constantin I. C. Brătianu, was a Romanian politician, who led the National Liberal Party starting with 1934.-Early career:...

(leader of the PNL), had asked King

King of Romania

King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....

Michael I

Michael I of Romania

not to approve the new framework. The two parties had not been allowed to take any part in drafting the new legal framework.

Early estimates

Months before the election, Communist leaders expressed confidence in being able to carry the election by 70 or 80% (statements by the Minister of Justice Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu

Lucretiu Patrascanu

Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania , also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he was a professor at Bucharest University...

and the Minister of the Interior Teohari Georgescu

Teohari Georgescu

Teohari Georgescu was a high-ranking member of the Romanian Communist Party.-Life:Born in Bacău, he was the third of seven children of Constantin and Aneta Georgescu. Georgescu, whose formal education ended after the fourth grade, began his career as an assistant in his father's store...

), or even 90% (Miron Constantinescu

Miron Constantinescu

Miron Constantinescu was a Romanian communist politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party , as well as a Marxist sociologist, historian, academic, and journalist...

, head of the PCR's Scînteia
Scînteia
Scînteia was the name of two newspapers edited by Communist groups at different intervals in Romanian history...

newspaper). As early as May, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Constantin Vişoianu

Constantin Visoianu

Constantin Vișoianu was a Romanian jurist, diplomat and politician....

complained to Adrian Holman

Adrian Holman

Sir Adrian Holman KBE CMG MC was a British diplomat.-Early life:The son of Richard Haswell Holman, he was educated at Copthorne Preparatory School, Harrow School, and New College, Oxford.-Career:...

, the British Ambassador to Romania, that the BPD had ensured a means to win the elections through fraud. Writing in January, Archibald Clerk-Kerr

Archibald Clerk-Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel

Archibald Clark Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel GCMG, PC , known as Sir Archibald Clark Kerr between 1935 and 1946, was a British diplomat...

assessed the results of his visit to Romania, arguing that no person he had met actually trusted that elections were going to be free, and that Vyshinsky himself believed that, on its own, the PCR was not capable of gathering more than 10% of the vote.

According to the American diplomat Burton Y. Berry

Burton Y. Berry

Burton Yost Berry was an American diplomat and art collector.Born in Fowler, Indiana, Berry studied at Indiana University. In 1928 he joined the United States Foreign Service...

, Groza had admitted to this procedure during an alleged conversation with a third party, indicating that the fraudulent percentages were the goal of competition between two sides — him and the PCR's general secretary

General secretary

-International intergovernmental organizations:-International nongovernmental organizations:-Sports governing bodies:...

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:Gheorghe was the son of a poor worker, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. Gheorghiu-Dej joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930...

formed one, while a "Comintern

Comintern

The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...

ist section" around Emil Bodnăraş

Emil Bodnaras

Emil Bodnăraş was an influential Romanian Communist politician, an army officer, and a Soviet agent...

represented the other; according to Berry, Groza and Gheorghiu-Dej were satisfied with a less intrusive fraud and, thus, a more realistic result (60%), while Bodnăraş aimed for 90%. W. Averell Harriman

W. Averell Harriman

, recording his conversation with Vyshinsky, alleged that the latter backed the 70% estimate. Nevertheless, the Soviet Ambassador Sergey Kavtaradze

Sergey Kavtaradze

Sergey or Sergo Kavtaradze was a Soviet politician and diplomat who briefly served as head of government in the Georgian SSR and as Deputy Prosecutor General of the Soviet Union...

stated that, "through certain 'techniques'", the BPD could win by 90%. A reference to "techniques" was also made by Ana Pauker

Ana Pauker

Ana Pauker was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s...

in conversation with Soviet officials; she nevertheless expressed her belief that the overall result was not going to be upwards of 60% (Pauker also voiced concern that overall votes for the BPD coalition were not going to dissuade the public perception that the PCR was actually in a minority position).

Historian Adrian Cioroianu

Adrian Cioroianu

Adrian Mihai Cioroianu is a Romanian historian, politician, journalist, and essayist. A lecturer for the History Department at the University of Bucharest, he is the author of several books dealing with Romanian history...

assessed that the dissemination of optimistic rumors contributed to accustoming the public with the idea that the government could carry the vote, and made the ultimate result less questionable in the eyes of observers.

Other Soviet documents, dated November 6 and 12, summarize a conversation with the Bodnăraş, who went on record indicating that a fraud was being prepared; compared to the official results, the percentages he mentioned at the time had an error of as little as 1%. Kavtaradze expressed concern that information on this topic had leaked to opposition parties in various locations, and that the PCR had thus failed to fully respect the "conspiratorial

Conspiracy (political)

In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....

character" it had decided to use.

Economic and social issues

An expectation shared by Groza and the PCR in postponing the elections was that outcome of harvests was to ensure the most favorable attitude from peasant voters ("[Groza] has declared that the government will only organize elections «when the barns are filled with wheat»"). This tactic was consistently applied by parties in government during the interwar period

Interwar period

Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....

.

Instead, 1946 was witnessed to an exceptionally severe drought

Drought

A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...

, turned into famine

Famine

A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...

over some areas. PCR officials claimed that this had been worsened by administrative incompetence, which had led to insufficient supplies of wheat and bread at the central level, and to various irregularities in transport over the national railway system

Caile Ferate Române

Căile Ferate Române is the official designation of the state railway carrier of Romania. Romania has a railway network of of which are electrified and the total track length is . The network is significantly interconnected with other European railway networks, providing pan-European passenger...

(in turn attributed to sabotage

Sabotage

Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...

). Kavtaradze blamed the government itself for the confusing situation.

During a meeting with the Soviet Embassy staff, PCR leader Ana Pauker

Ana Pauker

Ana Pauker was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s...

mentioned that Communists were especially concerned about events related to the petroleum industry

Petroleum industry

The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting , and marketing petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline...

in Romania (centered on Prahova County

Prahova County

Prahova is a county of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploieşti.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 829,945 and the population density was 176/km². It is Romania's most populated county, having a population density double than the country's mean...

), which was by then becoming much less lucrative. Tudor Ionescu, the PSD's Minister of Mines and Petroleum, supported the initiative of American and British businessmen to withdraw their investments, but was virulently opposed by the PCR, who argued that theirs was a move to undermine support for the BPD government, by leaving thousands of people unemployed. Pauker also alleged that a similar move was to be carried out by Ford

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

's Bucharest branch. Kavtaradze noted general dissatisfaction among workers, civil servants, and Romanian Army personnel over their low incomes.

In this context, the government began handing out food supplies as a means to ensure votes. Pauker attested that, in several places, the state was frustrated in its attempt to purchase grain from peasants, who argued that the price was small and the supplies insufficient. Eventually, the Central Committee

Central Committee

Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...

took the decision to import grain (and especially maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

) in large quantities, an action overseen by Gheorghiu-Dej. According to Kavtardze, such measures were partly inefficient.

Pauker's testimony stressed that, during the electoral campaign, much of the formerly landless peasantry was becoming suspicious of the BPD. She attested that, in several counties

Counties of Romania

The 41 judeţe and the municipality of Bucharest comprise the official administrative divisions of Romania. They also represent the European Union' s NUTS-3 geocode statistical subdivision scheme of Romania.-Overview:...

, the absentee ballot

Absentee ballot

An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station. Numerous methods have been devised to facilitate this...

was becoming a widespread solution among members of the latter social category ("Asked whom they would vote for, peasants answer: «We'll think about it some more» or «We shall not be voting»"). According to Pauker, they predicted that the Groza cabinet had carried out a previous land reform

Land reform

[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...

only as a preliminary step to collectivization ("Peasants answer that in Russia

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....

as well, in the beginning the land was divided, then taken away and kolkhoz
Kolkhoz
A kolkhoz , plural kolkhozy, was a form of collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state farms . The word is a contraction of коллекти́вное хозя́йство, or "collective farm", while sovkhoz is a contraction of советское хозяйство...

y were set up. We have no convincing arguments against such objections from the peasants").

The BPD took additional measures in regard to women voters in villages, especially illiterate

Literacy

Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...

ones. According to a Soviet report, several agitprop

Agitprop

Agitprop is derived from agitation and propaganda, and describes stage plays, pamphlets, motion pictures and other art forms with an explicitly political message....

campaigns were aimed at them, during which Communist activists stressed the positive aspects of the Groza government. Pauker stated: "a lot of things will depend on how the presidents of election bureaus treat women voters, since women have never voted, have never seen electoral laws and are not aware of voting procedures". In one incident witnessed during the elections and occurring in Cluj

Cluj-Napoca

Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...

, "there was an unexpected influence of Magyar women. Old women aged 70-80, carrying chairs, had queued, in rainy weather, awaiting their turn to vote. The slogan was: if one does not vote with the UPM, one does not receive sugar".

The women's suffrage was regarded with a level of hostility by the PNŢ, and Dreptatea
Dreptatea
Dreptatea was a Romanian newspaper that appeared between 17 October 1927 and 17 July 1947, as a newspaper of the National Peasants' Party. It was re-founded on February 5, 1990 as a publication of the Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party ....

frequently ridiculed Pauker's visits to women in various villages.

General irregularities

The period of campaigning and the election itself were witness to widespread violence and intimidation, carried out by squads of the BPD. In at least one instance, in Piteşti

Pitesti

Pitești is a city in Romania, located on the Argeș River. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated on the A1 freeway connecting it directly to the national capital Bucharest,...

, BPD members killed the local leader of the PNŢ.

Prior to the election, freedom of association

Freedom of association

Freedom of association is the individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests....

had been severely curtailed through various laws; according to Burton Y. Berry

Burton Y. Berry

Burton Yost Berry was an American diplomat and art collector.Born in Fowler, Indiana, Berry studied at Indiana University. In 1928 he joined the United States Foreign Service...

, Groza had admitted to this, and had indicated that it came as an answer to the need for order in the country. Expanding on this, he had stated that the cabinet was attempting to prevent "provocation" from both the far right

Far right

Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...

and far left

Far left

Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...

, and that chaos during the elections would have resulted in his own sidelining by the Communist Party. In regard to the arrest of several Romanian employees of the American Embassy in Bucharest, Groza reportedly claimed that he had tried to set them free, but the PCR had opposed his move. However, in a semi-official context, he had also stated (February 1946): "If the reaction

Reactionary

wins, do you think we'll let it live for [another] 24 hours? We'll be getting our payback immediately. We'll get our hands on whatever we can and we'll strike".

According to Berry, the Premier had stated that he assessed Romania's commitment to freedom of election in opposition to the Western Allied

Western Allies

requirements, and based on "the Russian interpretation of «free and unfettered»".

One effect of new legislative measures was that the intervention of judicial authorities as observers was much reduced; the task fell instead on local authorities, most of them controlled by Communist supporters.

From the start, state resources were employed in campaigning for the BPD. The numbers cited by Victor Frunză include, among other investments, over 4 million propaganda booklets, 28 million leaflets, 8.6 million printed caricatures, 2.7 million signs, and over 6.6 million posters.

Army

There is evidence that the Army was a main agent of both political campaigning and the eventual fraud. As an answer to increasing malcontent in military ranks, the Groza cabinet increased their revenues and supplies preferentially (arguably, their salaries remained weak when confronted to the Romanian leu

Romanian leu

The leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency means "lion". On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu to a new leu . 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL...

's high rate of inflation

Inflation

In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...

). In January, Army agitprop

Agitprop

Agitprop is derived from agitation and propaganda, and describes stage plays, pamphlets, motion pictures and other art forms with an explicitly political message....

sections of the "Education, Culture and Propaganda" Directorate (Direcţia Superioară pentru Educaţie, Cultură şi Propagandă a Armatei, or ECP), already employed in channeling political messages inside military ranks, were authorized to carry out "educational activities" outside of the facilities and into the rural area. PNŢ and PNL activists were barred entry on Army grounds, while the ECP closely supervised soldiers who supported the opposition, and repeatedly complained about the "political backwardness" and "liberties in voting" of various Army institutions. While several Army officials guaranteed that their subordinates were to vote for the BPD unanimously, low-ranking members occasionally expressed criticism over the violent quelling of PNŢ and PNL activities inside Army units.

Eventually, as the institution made use of its venues to campaign for the BPD, it encountered hostility. At a time when planes of the Romanian Air Forces were used to drop pro-Groza leaflets over the city of Braşov

Brasov

Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....

, EPC activists were alarmed to find out that the manifestos had been secretly replaced with PNŢ propaganda.

The Army was assigned its own Electoral Commission, placed under the leadership of two notoriously pro-Soviet generals, Nicolae Cambrea

Nicolae Cambrea

Nicolae Cambrea was a Romanian Brigadier-General during World War II. In 1942, heserved as Chief of Staff 5th Division. He was briefly a Soviet prisoner of war, but the following year joined his captors and became General Officer Commanding of the Tudor Vladimirescu Division...

and Mihail Lascăr

Mihail Lascar

Mihail Lascăr was a Romanian General during World War II, and Minister of Defense from 1946 to 1947.After graduating from the Infantry Officer School in 1910 with the rank of 2nd lieutenant, he fought in the Second Balkan War and in World War I, being promoted to major...

(both of whom had formerly served in Red Army

Red Army

units of Romanian voluntaries). This drew unanswered protests from the opposition, who called for another Commission to be appointed. By the time of the election, the Groza cabinet decided not to allow families of soldiers to vote at special Army stations, a measure which drew criticism for reducing the number of outside votes (and thus constituting a form of gerrymandering

Gerrymandering

In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, incumbent-protected districts...

). In one report from Cluj County

Cluj County

Cluj ; is a county of Romania, in Transylvania, with the capital city at Cluj-Napoca.-Demographics:In 2007, it had a population of 692,316 and a population density of 104/km².*Romanians – 80%*Hungarians – 17.5%*Roma – 2.5%-Geography:...

, General Precup Victor stated that:

"An electoral section for the military in Cluj
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...

[...] almost declared the voting invalid, citing for reason that the election was declared over between 6 and 7 o'clock, instead of 8 o'clock, as was required by law. [...] It is only due to the immediate and energetic intervention of the prefect, [with] Major Nicolae Haralambie, and yours truly that the situation was saved.

In this section, where we believed we had the best comrade president, and thus expected the best result, we received the worst result of all voting stations for the military. [...]

All of this because of the attitude of Comrade Petrovici [the section president]. If this section had not existed or if Comrade Petrovici, as its president, had listened to us, the army would have yielded a 99% result and not 92.06, as it came to be in Cluj."

Immediately after the elections, pro-Communist officers in Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

arrested General Drăgănescu of the Second Division of Vânători de Munte
Vânatori de Munte
The vânători de munte |Huntsmen]]) are the elite mountain troops of the Romanian Land Forces. They were first established as an independent Army Corps in 1916 during World War I, and became operational in 1917 under Corpul de Munte designation....

in Dej

Dej

Dej is a city in northwestern Romania, 60 km north of Cluj-Napoca, in Cluj County. It lies where the Someşul Mic River meets the river Someşul Mare River...

, alleging that, during the voting, he had spread false rumors that the local peasant population was engaged in Antisemitic and Anti-Hungarian violence, as a means to draw the interest of central authorities and Western Allied

Western Allies

supervisors. In a secret note released at the same time, General Precup Victor admitted that violent incidents had been occurring, and that the Army had been sent in to intervene. He also admitted that the local population was upset with the official results.

Other testimonies

Writing at the time, the academic Constantin Rădulescu-Motru

Constantin Radulescu-Motru

Constantin Rădulescu-Motru was a Romanian philosopher, psychologist, sociologist, logician, academic, dramatist, as well as centre-left nationalist politician with a noted anti-fascist discourse...

stated that authorities had been arbitrarily preventing people from voting, that many voters were not asked for their documents, and that electoral lists marked with the Sun symbol of the BPD had been shoved into urns before voting began. According to his testimony:

"Trucks filled with voters [of the BPD] traveled from one section to the other and voted in all sections, that is to say several times. After voting, blank forms of official reports [by observers] were sent to the central commission, and they were filled in by adding the number of votes desired by the government".

According to Anton Raţiu and Nicolae Betea, two collaborators of Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu

Lucretiu Patrascanu

, the elections in Arad County

Arad County

Arad is an administrative division of Romania roughly translated into county in the western part of the country on the border with Hungary, mostly in the region of Crişana and few villages in Banat. The administrative center of the county lies in the city of Arad...

were forged by a group of 40 people (including Belu Zilber and Anton Golopenţia); the president of the county electoral commission collected the votes from local stations and was required to read them aloud — irrespective of the option expressed, he called out the names of BPD candidates (Pătrăşcanu and Ion Vincze

Ion Vincze

Ion Vincze was a Romanian communist politician and diplomat...

, together with others). Nicolae Betea stated that the overall results for the BPD in Arad County, officially recorded at 58%, were closer to 20%.

Throughout the country, voting bulletins were set fire to immediately after the official counting was completed, an action which prevented all alternative investigation.

Alternative results

Sometime after the elections, the PCR issued a confidential report called "Lessons from the Elections and the C[ommunist] P[arty]'s Tasks after the Victory of 19 November 1946" (Învăţămintele alegerilor şi sarcinile PC după victoria din 19 Noiembrie 1946, Arhiva MApN, fond Materiale documentare diverse, dosar 1.742, f.12-13). It was compared by historian Petre Ţurlea with the official version, and provides essentially different data on the results. Analyzing the report, Ţurlea contended that, overall, the BPD was awarded between 44.98% and 47% of the vote, which would contradict the claims of both the Groza government and the opposition (the latter having stated a claim to 80% of the actual votes). The result, although coming at the end of unfree elections, shows that the two opposition parties could have formed a majority cabinet.

The report also confirms that the BPD's popularity had been much higher in the urban areas than with the peasantry, while, despite expectations, women in the villages preferred voting for the PNŢ. While securing the votes of the state apparatus and the Jewish

History of the Jews in Romania

The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....

middle class

Middle class

, the BPD was not able to make notable gains inside the categories of traditional PNŢ supporters.

Consequences

The election result effectively confirmed Romania's adherence to the Eastern Bloc

Eastern bloc

The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...

and Soviet camp in the erupting Cold War

Cold War

. On November 19, the three opposition parties (the National Peasants'

National Peasants' Party

and the National Liberal Parties

National Liberal Party (Romania)

, together with Constantin Titel Petrescu

Constantin Titel Petrescu

's splinter group from the Social Democrats

Romanian Social Democratic Party (defunct)

) issued a formal protest, accusing the Groza government of having falsified the vote. Cabinet representatives of the two contender parties, the PNL's Mihail Romaniceanu and the PNŢ's Emil Haţieganu

Emil Hatieganu

) withdrew in protest soon after results were announced. Petre Ţurlea contends that the document was largely inconsequential due to the interwar

Interwar period

tradition of similar protests for less problematic votes.

Later in the same month, the British

United Kingdom

government of Clement Attlee

Clement Attlee

Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...

, represented by Adrian Holman

Adrian Holman

Sir Adrian Holman KBE CMG MC was a British diplomat.-Early life:The son of Richard Haswell Holman, he was educated at Copthorne Preparatory School, Harrow School, and New College, Oxford.-Career:...

, issued a note informing Foreign Minister Gheorghe Tătărescu

Gheorghe Tatarescu

Gheorghe I. Tătărescu was a Romanian politician who served twice as Prime Minister of Romania , three times as Minister of Foreign Affairs , and once as Minister of War...

that, due to the numerous infringements, it did not recognize the result of elections in Romania.

In his January 4, 1947 conversation with the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Secretary of State

United States Secretary of State

The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...

George Marshall

George Catlett Marshall was an American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense...

, Romania's Ambassador Mihai Ralea received an official American reproach for having "broken the spirit and letter" of the Moscow Conference

Moscow Conference (1945)

The Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers of the United States , the United Kingdom , and the Soviet Union met in December 1945 to discuss the problems of occupation, establishing peace, and other Far East issues.The Communique issued after the Conference on December 27,...

and the Yalta Agreement

Yalta Conference

. Although Ralea, a Ploughmen's Front member and conjectural ally of the Communists, expressed concern over the fact that the United States were reproving Romania, he also appealed to the United States not to allow the country to be left behind the Iron Curtain

Iron Curtain

. In August 1946, Berry attested that Groza intended to tighten connections with other countries occupied by the Red Army

Red Army

, as the basis for a customs union

Customs union

A customs union is a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff. The participant countries set up common external trade policy, but in some cases they use different import quotas...

. The plan, also advocated by Bulgaria's Georgi Dimitrov

Georgi Dimitrov

Georgi Dimitrov Mikhaylov , also known as Georgi Mikhaylovich Dimitrov , was a Bulgarian Communist politician...

and Yugoslavia

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...

's Josip Broz Tito

Josip Broz Tito

Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...

, was frustrated by the opposition of Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

, and discarded altogether following the Tito-Stalin Split

Tito-Stalin Split

The Tito–Stalin Split was a conflict between the leaders of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which resulted in Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Communist Information Bureau in 1948...

.

On December 1, 1946, Premier Groza inaugurated the new unicameral Parliament

Parliament of Romania

. In his speech on the occasion, while expressing a hope that elections had voted in a new type of legislative, he stressed that it was important

"to eliminate the spectacle of useless blabber and personal issues from this Assembly and for these deputies to dedicate themselves, during the rather expensive session [...] to an intensive activity".

According to him:

"it is not the Parliament of old politicians, it is not a luxurious habit, an entertainment, an exercise of political gymnastics or an excuse for quarreling with others".

In following months, Communists concentrated on silencing opposition and ensuring a monopoly on power. In summer 1947, the Tămădău Affair

Tamadau Affair

The Tămădău Affair was an incident that took place in Romania in the summer of 1947, the source of a political scandal and show trial.It was provoked when an important number of National Peasants' Party leaders, including party vice president Ion Mihalache, had been offered a chance to flee...

saw the end of the PNŢ and the PNL, banned after Iuliu Maniu

Iuliu Maniu

and others were prosecuted during a show trial

Show trial

The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...

. The National Liberal Party-Tătărescu, which issued a critique of the Groza administration at around the same time, withdrew from the BPD only to be implicated in the Tămădău scandal and have its leadership replaced with ones more loyal to the PCR. The PCR ultimately absorbed the PSD in late 1947, leading to the creation of a Romanian Workers' Party, which was in effect a new name for the PCR.

In the last days of December 1947, King

King of Romania

King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....

Michael I

Michael I of Romania

was pressured into abdication

Abdication

Abdication occurs when a monarch, such as a king or emperor, renounces his office.-Terminology:The word abdication comes derives from the Latin abdicatio. meaning to disown or renounce...

; a People's Republic

People's Republic

People's Republic is a title that has often been used by Marxist-Leninist governments to describe their state. The motivation for using this term lies in the claim that Marxist-Leninists govern in accordance with the interests of the vast majority of the people, and, as such, a Marxist-Leninist...

was proclaimed instead, as the first stage of the Romanian Communist regime

Communist Romania

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.