1950 Yugoslavian parliamentary election explained

Country:Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia
Type:parliamentary
Previous Election:1945 Yugoslavian parliamentary election
Previous Year:1945
Next Election:1953 Yugoslavian parliamentary election
Seats For Election:All seats in the Federal Council
All seats in the Council of Peoples
Next Year:1953
Image1:Josip Broz Tito 1949.jpg
Leader1:Josip Broz Tito
Party1:KPJ
Alliance1:People's Front
Percentage1:94.2%
Prime Minister
Posttitle:Prime Minister after election
Before Election:Josip Broz Tito
After Election:Josip Broz Tito
Before Party:KPJ
After Party:KPJ

Parliamentary elections were held in Yugoslavia on 26 March 1950. They were the first held since the onset of communist rule five years earlier. The Communist Party of Yugoslavia had won the 1945 elections after an opposition boycott; soon afterward, the Communists abolished the monarchy and declared Yugoslavia a people's republic. The People's Front, dominated by the Communist Party, was the only organisation to contest the election,[1] receiving 94% of the vote.[2]

Background

A new electoral law was passed in January 1950.[3] Imro Filacović of the Croatian Peasant Party was the only MP to vote against the law, complaining that it did not allow opposition parties to oversee the vote counting process. As a result, he was jeered in the National Assembly.

The new law allowed individual candidacies in elections to the National Assembly, replacing the previous closed list system, although the closed list system remained in place for the Council of Nationalities.[3] Candidates required the signatures of 100 registered voters in order to be able to run for office.[3] However, by this time, the ruling People's Front no longer tolerated opposition parties.[3] As a result, voters only had the option of approving or rejecting a single People's Front candidate in each constituency.[4] Communist Party leader and Prime Minister Josip Broz Tito claimed that any alternative programme would be hostile to socialism, and "this, naturally, we cannot allow".[4]

Despite the absence of opposition candidates,[4] voting was secret. Voters cast their ballots using rubber balls, and were required to place their hands in both ballot boxes to ensure secrecy.[1]

Notes and References

  1. "Polling Day In Yugoslavia", The Times, 27 March 1950
  2. http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1950/07/3.htm On the Class Nature of the “People’s Democracies”
  3. "Election Law In Yugoslavia", The Times, 24 January 1950
  4. "Yugoslav Elections", The Times, 25 March 1950