Parliamentary election in Czechoslovakia, 1946
The parliamentary elections in Czechoslovakia in 1946 took place on May 26, 1946. It was the first election after the Second World War and the last before the Communist takeover in February 1948.
Candidates, parties, government
Shortly before the election, the right to stand as a candidate was reduced from 21 to 18 years. Admission to the election was already predetermined in Article I. of the government program Kaschau Program , which was also passed by the Czechoslovak government- in- exile in London: parties suspected of cooperating with the protectorate were not admitted. The approved parties ran for candidates on the National Front's unified list ; there were no plans to form a coalition or opposition.
The following parties were allowed to vote: in the Czech part of the country ( Bohemia , Moravia , Silesia ) the communist KSČ, the people's socialists of the ČSNS, the people's party of ČSL and the social democratic ČSDSD, in Slovakia the communist KSS, the democratic party DS, the Christian party SSL and the newly founded social democratic SP in 1946. The Communist Party of Slovakia, KSS, founded in 1939, was formally an independent party, not subordinate to the Czechoslovakian KSČ, while there was no separate (“Czech”) communist party for the countries of Bohemia and Moravia.
The winner of the election was the communist Klement Gottwald , who was able to set up his first government . It consisted of Communists (9 members of government), People's Socialists (4 members of government), Slovak Democrats (4 members of government), members of the People's Party (4 members of government), Social Democrats (3 members of government) and 2 non-party members. After the governments of Fierlinger I and Fierlinger II (both from 1945), this was the first post-war government to come about through an election.
Election results
The election results in detail:
| Political party | Brief description | Mandate share |
Number of mandates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Komunistická strana Československa (KSČ) | Czech communists | 31.05% | 93 |
| Československá strana národně socialistická (ČSNS) | moderate socialists | 18.29% | 55 |
| Československá strana lidová (ČSL) | Christian Democrats | 15.64% | 46 |
| Democratická strana (DS) | Slovak Conservatives | 14.07% | 43 |
| Československá sociálně Demokratická strana dělnická (ČSDSD) | Social democrats | 12.05% | 37 |
| Komunistická strana Slovenska (KSS) | Slovak communists | 6.89% | 21st |
| Strana slobody (SSL) | Slovak Catholics | 0.85% | 3 |
| Strana práce (SP) | Slovak Social Democrats | 0.71% | 2 |
| total | 100% | 300 |
7,099,411 voters took part in the election. In Bohemia and Moravia the Komunistická strana Československa won (40.127%), in Slovakia the Demokratická strana (61.453%). About 0.5 percent of the paper was blank in protest against the election of the National Front's unified list.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Doba poválečná 1945–1948, a publication by the Czech government, online at: www.vlada.cz (PDF; 85 kB), Czech, accessed on January 15, 2012.
- ↑ Výsledky voleb v Československu, online at: czso.cz (Czech Stat. Office) (PDF; 1.1 MB), Czech, accessed on December 2, 2010.
- ↑ volby 1946, volební výsledky, online at: totalita.cz , Czech, accessed on December 17, 2010