1939 Romanian general election

General elections were held in Romania in June 1939.[1] The Chamber of Deputies was elected on 1 June, whilst the Senate was elected a day later.[1] They were the first since the introduction of the royal dictatorship of King Carol II under the 1938 constitution. Voters were presented with a single list from the National Renaissance Front, which had been the only legally permitted party in Romania since December.[2]

1939 Romanian general election

1–2 June 1939

All 258 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
All 88 seats in the Senate
  Majority party
 
Leader Armand Călinescu
Party FRN
Seats won 258 C / 88 S
Seat change - C / - S
Popular vote 1,587,514
Percentage 100%

Prime Minister before election

Armand Călinescu
FRN

Subsequent Prime Minister

Armand Călinescu
FRN

Electoral system

The new electoral system saw voters elect candidates in eleven constituencies.[3] Within the constituencies voters and candidates were divided into groups based on their occupations, and could only vote or stand in those groups.[3] Each constituency having between five and ten seats per occupational group.[3] The number of seats for each group was the same in every constituency, even if the number of voters was different, leading to the over-representation of some groups, including the Industry and Commerce group.[3] Voters had as many votes as there were seats available.[3] The number of seats in the Chamber of Deputies was reduced from 387 to 258, whilst the number of seats in the Senate awarded through elections fell from 113 to 88.[4]

The voting age was also raised from 21 to 30,[3] with franchise limited to literate men and women who were effectively working in agriculture, commerce or industry or had an intellectual occupation. Opposition parties were banned.[5]

Results

Chamber of Deputies

PartyVotes%Seats
National Renaissance Front1,587,514100.00258
Total1,587,514100.00258
Valid votes1,587,51495.31
Invalid/blank votes78,0454.69
Total votes1,665,559100.00
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Senate

PartySeats
National Renaissance Front88
Total88
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1591 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1603
  3. Nohlen & Stöver, p1582
  4. Nohlen & Stöver, pp1610-1611
  5. Nohlen & Stöver, p1580
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.