1937 Romanian general election

none Kingdom of Romania parliamentary yes 1933 Romanian general election 1933 1939 Romanian general election 1939 All 387 seats in the Chamber of DeputiesAll 113 seats in the Senate yes 1937 12 20 66.07% Dinu Bratianu.png Dinu Brătianu 1934 National Liberal Party (Romania, 1875) 105 S / 300 D 97 S / 152 D 8 S / 148 D 1,103,353 D 36.46% D 150x150px Iuliu Maniu 1937 National Peasants' Party 0 S / 29 D 10 S / 86 D 10 S / 57 D 626,612 D 20.71% D Corneliu Zelea Codreanu.jpg Corneliu Zelea Codreanu 1933 Iron Guard – 4 S / 66 D New 478,378 D 15.81% D 150x150px Octavian Goga 1935 National Christian Party 0 S / 18 D 0 S / 39 D 0 S / 21 D 281,167 D 9.29% D Prime Minister Gheorghe Tătărescu National Liberal Party (Romania, 1875) Octavian Goga PNC General elections were held in Romania in December 1937.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A Data Handbook, p1591 978-3-8329-5609-7 The Chamber of Deputies was elected on 20 December, whilst the Senate was elected in three stages on 22, 28 and 30 December. Voting was by universal male suffrage,Nohlen & Stöver, p1610–1611 making them the last elections held before women could vote. 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 antisemitic platform. Goga's government was formed on 29 December 1937.William Brustein Roots of Hate: Anti-Semitism in Europe Before the Holocaust Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2010 159 978-0-521-77478-9 thumb|right|350px|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%.Nohlen & Stöver, p1582 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. Campaign The campaign was marred by violent clashes between the two fascist groups, the National Christian Party's Lăncieri and the Iron Guard.Background and Precursors to the Holocaust, p. 26 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 National Liberal Party 1103353 152 –148 National Peasants' Party 626612 86 +57 Everything for the Country Party 478378 66 New National Christian Party 281167 39 +21 Magyar Party 136139 19 +11 National Liberal Party–Brătianu 119361 16 +6 Radical Peasants' Party 69198 9 +3 Agrarian Union Party 52101 0 –5 Jewish Party 43681 0 0 German Party 43612 0 New Social Democratic Party 28840 0 0 People's Party 25567 0 0 Traders Council 1219 0 0 Other parties 16912 0 – 45555 0 4649163 Sternberger et al.,Dolf Sternberger, Bernhard Vogel, Dieter Nohlen & Klaus Landfried (1978) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band I: Europa, Zweiter Halbband, pp1062–1064 Nohlen & Stöver File:Romanian Chamber of Deputies 1937.svg LightGreen Senate National Liberal Party 97 –8 National Peasants' Party 10 +10 Everything for the Country Party 4 New Magyar Party 2 –1 +5 Nohlen & Stöver File:Romanian Senate 1937.svg 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,Michael Mann, Fascists, Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 288-289 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.Reaves, Joseph A. Romanians Hope Free Elections Mark Revolution's Next Stage. Chicago Tribune, 1990-03-30. 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. References Kurt W. Treptow (1996) "Alegerile din decembrie 1937 şi instaurarea dictaturii regale" in Romania and World War II, Centrul de Studii Româneşti, Iaşi ro "4 Die as Rumania Votes", The New York Times, 21 December 1937, p18 "Cabinet Aims to Rule Rumania", The New York Times, 24 December 1937, p4 Category:Parliamentary elections in Romania Category:Election and referendum articles with incomplete results Category:1937 elections in Romania Category:December 1937 in Europe