General elections were held in Romania on 19 November 1946, in the aftermath of World War II. The official results gave a victory to the Bloc of Democratic Parties (Blocul Partidelor Democrate, BPD), together with its associates, the Hungarian People's Union (UPM or MNSZ) and the Democratic Peasants' Party–Lupu.Ștefan, p. 9; Tismăneanu, p. 323 The elections marked a decisive step towards the disestablishment of the Romanian monarchy and the proclamation of a Communist regime at the end of the following year. Breaking with the traditional universal male suffrage confirmed by the 1923 Constitution, it was the first national election to feature women's suffrage, and the first to allow active public officials and army personnel the right to vote.Ștefan, p. 10; Țiu The BPD, representing the incumbent leftist government formed around Prime Minister Petru Groza, was an electoral alliance comprising the PCR, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Ploughmen's Front, the National Liberal Party–Tătărescu (PNL–Tătărescu), the National Peasants' Party–Alexandrescu (PNȚ–Alexandrescu) and the National Popular Party.
According to official results, the BPD received 69.8% of the vote, enough for an overwhelming majority of 347 seats in the 414-seat unicameral Parliament. Between them, the BPD and its allies won 379 seats, controlling over 91 percent of the chamber. The National Peasants' Party–Maniu (PNȚ–Maniu) won 32 seats and the National Liberal Party (PNL–Brătianu) only three.Ștefan, p. 9 In general, commentators agree that the BPD carried the vote through widespread intimidation tactics and electoral fraud, to the detriment of both the PNȚ–Maniu and the PNL–Brătianu. While there is disagreement over the exact results, it is contended that the BPD and its allies actually won no more than 48 percent of the total, with several authors assuming PNȚ–Maniu to be the overall winner.Giurescu, ""Alegeri" după model sovietic", p. 17; Țurlea, pp. 35, 36; Tismăneanu, p. 113 Journalist claims that the actual votes for the PNȚ–Maniu could have allowed it to form a government, either in its own right or as senior partner in a non-BPD coalition.Frunză, pp. 290–291 Historian Marin Pop considers that this was the most fraudulent election in the history of Romanian politics. Various authors note however that the fraud has been mythologised by the opposition, including in its post-1990 installments. The 1946 elections were in many ways similar to the ones won by PNL–Brătianu or PNȚ before World War II: the governing party always used state resources in its campaign, ensuring for itself a comfortable majority, against clamorous accusations of fraud and violence coming from the opposition parties.Preda, pp. 217-218; Scurtu p. 44; Țurlea, p. 35
Carried out upon the close of World War II, under Romania's occupation by Soviet troops, the elections have drawn comparisons to the similarly flawed elections held at the time in most of the emerging Eastern Bloc (in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland), being considered, in respect to its formal system of voting, among the most permissive of the latter.Țârău, pp. 33–34
Background Following its exit from the Axis in the wake of the coup d'état of 23 August 1944, Romania became subject to Allied supervision (see Romania during World War II, Allied Commission). After the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Soviet authorities had increased their presence in Romania, as Western Allied governments resorted to expressing largely inconsequential criticism of new procedures in place.Tismăneanu, p. 113 After the Potsdam Conference, the latter group initially refused to recognize Groza's administration,Cioroianu, pp. 61–64, 159–161 which had been imposed after Soviet pressure.Cioroianu, pp. 156–157; Frunză, pp. 181–182
Consequently, King Michael I refused to sign legislation advanced by the cabinet (this was the so-called Greva regală, "Royal strike"). On 8 November 1945, authorities repressed a gathering of Bucharesters organized by the two main opposition parties in front of the Royal Palace.Cioroianu, Pe umerii..., p. 62 Demonstrators, many of them young students, flocked to the plaza in front of the palace to express their solidarity with the monarch (on the Orthodox liturgics Saint Michael's Day); however, armed groups attacked the Ministries of Interior and Propaganda, as well as the headquarters of pro-government organisations, including the General Confederation of Labour and the Patriotic Defense."750.000 de cetățeni ai Capitalei au participat la manifestația de doliu național", pp. 1-4 in Scânteia (378). 13 November 1945 Following clashes with government supporters and troops, some 10 or 11 people were left dead and many injured. The government declared a national day of mourning, and state funerals were held on 12 November for seven of the victims, hailed as fighters for democracy and independence, "assassinated by bands of fascist killers". Nevertheless, claims that, depicting the event as a coup d'état attempt, authorities had fired on the crowd.Frunză, p. 233 In January 1946, the "Royal strike" itself ended following the Moscow Conference, which made US and British recognition of the government dependent on the inclusion of two politicians from the main opposition parties. Consequently, the National Liberal and the National Peasants' Emil Hațieganu joined the cabinet as Minister without Portfolio.Cioroianu, Pe umerii..., pp. 63, 159–160; Macuc, p. 39; Țiu
In mid-December 1945, the representatives of the three major Allied Powers—Andrey Vyshinsky from the Soviet Union, W. Averell Harriman from the United States, and Archibald Clerk-Kerr from the United Kingdom—visited the capital Bucharest and agreed for elections to be convened in May 1946, on the basis of the Yalta Agreements. Nevertheless, the pro-Soviet Groza cabinet took the liberty to prolong the term, passing the required new electoral procedure on June 15.Cioroianu, p. 64; Ștefan, p. 10; Țiu
On the same day, a royal decree was published abolishing the Senate, turning the Parliament into a unicameral legislature, the Assembly of Deputies (Adunarea Deputaților). The new legislation, revising the 1923 Constitution, 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, had been dissolved in 1941).Țiu The Senate was traditionally considered reactionary by the PCR, with historian Marian Ștefan arguing the measure was meant to facilitate control over the legislative processȘtefan, p. 10 The BPD government also removed the majority bonus, awarded since 1926 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, notably marked by Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College on 5 March 1946,Macuc, p. 40 and the centering of Western Allied interest in turning the tide of the Civil War in Greece. The intricate issues posed by the latter contributed to weakening ties between the Romanian opposition groups and their Western supporters.
The date of the election coincided with the fourth anniversary of Operation Uranus, the moment when Nazi Germany and Romania suffered a major defeat on the Eastern Front at the Battle of Stalingrad. According to his private notes, General Constantin Sănătescu, an adversary of the PCR and former Premier, presumed that this had been done on purpose ("in order to mock us").Sănătescu, in Macuc, p. 40
BPD
Following Romania's exit from the war, left-wing parties had increased their membership several times. The PCR, which held its first open and legal conference in October 1945,Barbu, pp. 190–191; Cioroianu, Pe umerii..., pp. 62, 91–93; Frunză, pp. 219–220; Ștefan, p. 10; Tismăneanu, p. 109 had begun a massive recruitment campaign.Frunză, pp. 201–212 By 1947, it grew to 600,000-700,000 membersŞtefan, p. 10; Kavtaradze, Document 234, 20 November 1946, in Pokivailova, p. 14; PCR report, in Țurlea, p. 35. from an initial 1,000 in 1944 (the constant growth in membership was by far the highest of all Eastern Bloc countries).Barbu, pp. 190–191
Similarly, the Ploughmen's Front, which Groza presided, was estimated to have 1,000,000–1,500,000 membersKavtaradze, Document 234, November 20, 1946, in Pokivailova, p. 14; Ștefan, p. 10 or just 800,000.PCR report, in Țurlea, p. 35 In early November 1946, Communist sources show that the BPD counted an important part of the gains in the rural areas to be obtained from the Front's electorate (the poor and middle peasant categories).Pauker, quoted by Shutov, Soviet Embassy Document of 20 November 1945, in Pokivailova, p. 13 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 (PSD), which had been drawn into close collaboration with the PCR as early as 1944 (as part of the United Workers' Front, Frontul Unic Muncitoresc), had also seen a steady growth in numbers;Frunză, pp. 271–272 the PSD was by then dominated by the pro-PCR wing of Ștefan Voitec and Lothar Rădăceanu, who purged the staunchly Reformist group of Constantin Titel Petrescu in March 1946 (leading the latter to establish his own independent group).Cioroianu, pp. 93–94; Frunză, pp. 259–286 The Communist Ana Pauker noted with dissatisfaction that certain members of the PSD continued to remain hostile to her party (she cited the example of an unnamed intellectual and low-ranking member of the PSD who, during a BPD meeting, shouted a slogan in support of the PNȚ's Iuliu Maniu).Pauker, quoted by Shutov, Document 234, 20 November 1946, in Pokivailova, p. 13
As a representative of the middle class, the National Liberal Party–Tătărescu itself had an uneasy relation with the PCR, having declared its support for capitalism.
The Hungarian People's Union (UPM or MNSZ), which represented the Hungarian minority was instrumental in securing Transylvanian votes for the government coalition, as admitted by the PCR itself. Nevertheless, the pro-communist commander of the 4th Army Corps saw the overwhelming vote for the UPM among the soldiers and PCR members of Hungarian origin as an indication of "chauvinism".General Precup Victor, Nr.7 (23 November 1946), in Troncotă, p. 19 The BPD also won the endorsement of the Jewish Democratic Committee, which included members of Jewish-Romanian community favourable to the PCR.Wexler, p. 83
With their organization banned in accordance with the 1944 armistice agreement, members of the fascist Iron Guard adopted an entryist tactic, infiltrating all legally-existing parties. One of the most notable cases was that of underground leader Horațiu Comaniciu, who urged former guardists to join the opposition National Peasants' Party., Elena-Irina Macovei, Între mit și bagatelizare. Despre reconsiderarea critică a trecutului, Ion Gavrilă Ogoranu și rezistenţa armată anticomunistă din România. Polirom, 2016. , pp. 28-30 In a bid to escape punishment for their crimes some even joined the Communists.Cioroianu, Pe umerii..., p. 297; Frunză, p. 208 A report of November 1945 indicates that, of the 15,538 former Iron Guard members known to have joined political parties, 2,258 chose PCR, while 3,281 entered the PSD.Roland Clark, Sfîntă tinerețe legionară: activismul fascist în România interbelică. Polirom, 2015. , pp. 249-251