Czechoslovak parliamentary election, 1946

26 May 1946 (1946-05-26)

All 300 seats to the Constituent National Assembly 150 seats needed for a majority

Turnout	93.9%
	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Klement Gottwald	Petr Zenkl	Jan Šrámek
Party	KSČ	ČSNS	ČSL
Seats after	93	55	46
Seat change	63	27	24
Popular vote	2,205,697	1,298,980	1,111,009
Percentage	31.2%	18.4%	15.7%

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Leader	Jozef Lettrich	Zdeněk Fierlinger	Štefan Bašťovanský
Party	DS	ČSSD	KSS
Seats after	43	37	21
Seat change	43	37	21
Popular vote	999,622	855,538	489,596
Percentage	14.1%	12.1%	6.9%

	Seventh party	Eighth party

Leader	Vavro Šrobár	Ivan Frlička
Party	SS	SP
Seats after	3	2
Seat change	3	2
Popular vote	60,195	50,079
Percentage	0.9%	0.7%

Parliamentary elections were held in Czechoslovakia on 26 May 1946.^[1] The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia emerged as the largest party, winning 114 of the 300 seats (93 for the main party and 21 for its Slovak branch) with 38% of the vote (31 percent for the main party and 6.9 percent for the Slovak branch). This was the best performance for a Czechoslovak party up to that time; previously no Czechoslovak party had ever won more than 25 percent of the vote. Voter turnout was 93.9%.^[2]

Background

After World War II a 300-member interim National Assembly was formed and met for the first time on 28 October 1945.^[3] The Assembly created a new electoral system with the country divided into 28 multi-member constituencies. 150 members were elected from Bohemia, 81 from Moravia and Silesia and 69 from Slovakia. The voting age was lowered to 18, but only Czechs, Slovaks and other Slavs could register to vote.^[3]

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia	2,205,697	31.2	93	+63
Czechoslovak National Socialist Party	1,298,980	18.4	55	+27
Czechoslovak People's Party	1,111,009	15.7	46	+24
Democratic Party	999,622	14.1	43	New
Czechoslovak Social Democracy	855,538	12.1	37	New
Communist Party of Slovakia	489,596	6.9	21	New
Freedom Party	60,195	0.9	3	New
Labour Party	50,079	0.7	2	New
Invalid/blank votes	59,427	–	–	–
Total	7,130,143	100	300	0
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Aftermath

Following the elections the Communist Party formed a coalition government. However, they gradually took control of the entire government. After the non-Communist members resigned from the Cabinet on 25 February 1948, the Communists were able to take full control of the country.^[4]

References

↑ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p471 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p472
1 2 Nohlen & Stöver, p464
↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p457

Elections in Czechoslovakia

Parliamentary elections	1920 1925 1929 1935 1946 1948 1954 1960 1964 1971 1976 1981 1986 1990 1992

Parliamentary by-elections	1924

Regional elections	1923 1928 1935

Local elections	1919 1923 1927 1931 1938 1954 1960 1964 1971 1976 1981 1986 1990

Referendums	1951

See also: Elections in the Czech Republic Elections in Slovakia

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