1937 Romanian general election

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1937 Romanian general election
Flag of Romania.svg
←  1933 20 December 1937 (1937-12-20) 1939  →
All 387 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
All 113 seats in the Senate
Turnout66.07%
 First partySecond party
  Dinu Bratianu.png Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2000-0518-507, Julius Maniu.jpg
Leader Dinu Brătianu Iuliu Maniu
Party PNL PNȚ
Leader since19341937
Last election105 S / 300 D 0 S / 29 D
Seats won97 S / 152 D 10 S / 86 D
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 8 S / Decrease2.svg 148 D Increase2.svg 10 S / Increase2.svg 57 D
Popular vote1,103,353 D 626,612 D
Percentage36.46% D 20.71% D
 Third partyFourth party
  Corneliu Zelea Codreanu.jpg Octavian Goga - 2.jpg
Leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu Octavian Goga
Party TpȚ PNC
Leader since19331935
Last election–0 S / 18 D
Seats won4 S / 66 D 0 S / 39 D
Seat changeNewSteady2.svg 0 S / Increase2.svg 21 D
Popular vote478,378 D 281,167 D
Percentage15.81% D 9.29% D
Prime Minister before election

Gheorghe Tătărescu
PNL

Elected Prime Minister

Octavian Goga
PNC

General elections were held in Romania in December 1937. [1] The Chamber of Deputies was elected on 20 December, whilst the Senate was elected in three stages on 22, 28 and 30 December. [1] Voting was by universal male vote, [2] making them the last elections held before female suffrage was introduced.

Contents

The National Liberal Party remained the largest party, winning 152 of the 387 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 97 of the 112 the Senate seats. However, unlike all previous elections organised by partisan governments, the results did not give the governing party a majority. The National Liberals' unexpectedly poor showing prevented it from creating a government on its own (obtaining 40% of the vote would have automatically awarded them a large parliamentary majority). They ruled out a coalition with their arch-rivals, the second-placed National Peasants' Party, or with the third-placed Iron Guard's Everything for the Country Party. King Carol II invited the fascist Octavian Goga to form a government, though his National Christian Party finished fourth and had an avowedly anti-Semitic platform. Goga's government was formed on 29 December 1937. [3]

Results of the 1937 general elections at county level Alegeri parlamentare 1937.png
Results of the 1937 general elections at county level

Electoral system

The members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected from multi-member constituencies with between two and twenty seats. Seats were allocated on a proportional basis, unless a party received over 40% of the vote nationally. If this happened, the party in question was awarded half of the seats in each constituency, with the other half divided proportionally amongst the all parties (including the victorious one), with an electoral threshold of 2%. [4]

The Senate was elected on a plurality basis. Voters had to be at least 21 to vote in the Chamber elections and 25 to vote in Senate elections. Candidates for both bodies had to be at least 40 years old. [4]

Campaign

The campaign was marred by violent clashes between the two fascist groups, the National Christian Party's Lăncieri and the Iron Guard. [5] During the first round, clashes occurred at Orhei and Târgu Mureş, when four were killed and which led to 300 arrests.

After the vote, the Electoral Commission surprised observers by deciding, in its allocation of seats by proportional representation, to count the entire country as one district, rather than use smaller districts, as had been the norm.

Results

Chamber of Deputies

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
National Liberal Party 1,103,35336.46152–148
National Peasants' Party 626,61220.7186+57
Everything for the Country Party 478,37815.8166New
National Christian Party 281,1679.2939+21
Magyar Party 136,1394.5019+11
National Liberal Party–Brătianu 119,3613.9416+6
Radical Peasants' Party 69,1982.299+3
Agrarian Union Party 52,1011.720–5
Jewish Party 43,6811.4400
German Party 43,6121.440New
Social Democratic Party 28,8400.9500
People's Party 25,5670.8400
Traders Council1,2190.0400
Other parties16,9120.560–
Total3,026,140100.003870
Valid votes3,026,14098.52
Invalid/blank votes45,5551.48
Total votes3,071,695100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,649,16366.07
Source: Sternberger et al., [6] Nohlen & Stöver

Senate

PartySeats+/–
National Liberal Party 97–8
National Peasants' Party 10+10
Everything for the Country Party 4New
Magyar Party 2–1
Total113+5
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Aftermath

The elections were the last elections held under the nominally democratic 1923 constitution. On 18 January 1938, less than a month after the elections, Goga asked Carol to dissolve Parliament. Carol granted the request, with a view toward holding fresh elections that winter. However, Carol became alarmed with overtures being made by the National Christian Party towards the Iron Guard, [7] and on 10 February 1938 he sacked Goga after only 45 days in office, suspended the constitution, cancelled the elections, and seized emergency powers. Later that year Carol pushed through a new constitution that concentrated all power in his hands, effectively codifying his emergency powers and turning his government into a royal dictatorship.

As a result, the elections were the last free multi-party elections until 1990. [8] Elections held in 1939 featured a single list from Carol's National Renaissance Front. By the time of the first elections after World War II in 1946, the country had passed through two more dictatorships and a fourth, Communist one was rapidly consolidating.

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References

  1. 1 2 Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1591 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p1610-1611
  3. ↑ Brustein, William (2010). Roots of Hate: Anti-Semitism in Europe Before the Holocaust. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 159. ISBN   978-0-52177-478-9.
  4. 1 2 Nohlen & Stöver, p1582
  5. ↑ Background and Precursors to the Holocaust, p. 26
  6. ↑ Dolf Sternberger, Bernhard Vogel, Dieter Nohlen & Klaus Landfried (1978) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band I: Europa, Zweiter Halbband, pp1062–1064
  7. ↑ Michael Mann, Fascists, Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 288-289
  8. ↑ Reaves, Joseph A. Romanians Hope Free Elections Mark Revolution's Next Stage. Chicago Tribune, 1990-03-30.
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