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General elections were held in Romania on 19 November 1946. The official results gave a victory to the Romanian Communist Party (PCR), its allies inside 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.〔Ştefan, p. 9; Tismăneanu, p. 323〕 The event 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.〔Ştefan, p. 10; Ţiu〕 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, the National Peasants' Party–Alexandrescu and the National Popular Party.〔 In general, commentators agree that the grouping carried the vote through widespread intimidation tactics and electoral fraud, to the detriment of both the National Peasants' Party (PNŢ) and the National Liberal Party (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 should have allowed it to form government, either on its own or as part of a coalition).〔Frunză, pp. 290–291; Giurescu, "«Alegeri» după model sovietic", p. 17; Tismăneanu, p. 113; Ţurlea, pp. 35, 36; Weiner & Özbudun, p. 386〕 Instead, the elections awarded the BPD a crushing majority inside the new unicameral Parliament—it had 348 seats on its own (379 with its allies), whereas the PNŢ was awarded 32 seats and the PNL only 3.〔Ştefan, p. 9〕 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),〔Ţârău, pp. 33–34〕 being considered, in respect to its formal system of voting, among the most permissive of the latter.〔 ==Background== Following its exit from the Axis in late 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; Weiner & Özbudun, p. 386〕 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 spontaneous gathering of Bucharesters in front of the Royal Palace—demonstrators flocked to the plaza in front of the palace as a means to express their solidarity with the monarch (on the Orthodox liturgics Saint Michael's Day).〔Cioroianu, ''Pe umerii...'', pp. 61–64, 159–161; Frunză, p. 233〕 Depicting the event as a coup d'état attempt, authorities fired on the crowd, killing around 10 people.〔Cioroianu, ''Pe umerii...'', p. 62; Frunză, p. 233〕 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) as Ministers without Portfolio (the gesture also brought it Western Allied recognition).〔Cioroianu, ''Pe umerii...'', pp. 63, 159–160; Macuc, p. 39; Ţiu〕 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.〔Cioroianu, p. 63; Ştefan, p. 10; Ţiu〕 Nevertheless, and despite opposition protests,〔Ţiu〕 the pro-Soviet Groza cabinet took the liberty to prolong the term, passing the required new electoral procedure on June 17.〔Cioroianu, p. 64; Ştefan, p. 10; Ţiu〕 On the same day, Groza signed a decree to disestablish the Senate, turning the Parliament into a unicameral legislature, the ''Assembly of Deputies'' (''Adunarea Deputaţilor'').〔 The new legislation, breaking with the provisions of 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).〔 The Senate was traditionally considered reactionary by the PCR,〔Ştefan, p. 10〕 and its end was arguably meant to facilitate control over the legislative process.〔 The BPD government also removed the majority bonus, 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, 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, as the country appeared to be a lost cause for capitalism.〔 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.〔 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〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Romanian general election, 1946」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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