Zoran Jerotijević, PhD

THE FIRST POST-WAR POLITICAL ELECTIONS IN YUGOSLAVIA AND SURROUNDING COUNTRIES

SUMMARY

After the Tito-Šubašić agreement, the Yugoslav regent government was completely separated from king Petar II ( which was one of the principal goals of the British government ). King Petar’s attempts to strengthen his influence during autumn and winter 1945-45 remained futile, primarily due to the lack of any serious support from Winston Churchill and his government.

The formation of the Yugoslav Democratic Federal government was a further step toward the degradation of monarchy and establishment of absolute Tito’s reign ( through the League of Communists of Yugoslavia ). This government initiated preparations for the elections for the constitutional government. The  preparations should have removed any possibility of surprise ie. non-communist victory. For this purpose, the National front was formed under the supervision of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia and there was a prohibition to participate in the elections ( they were devoid of franchise ) for hundreds of thousands of people, mostly in Serbia, allegedly because of the cooperation with the enemy.

During summer 1945 king’s attempt to recall the Governorship was utterly ignored. The election took place on November 11th 1945 and it was basically single-party. Also, in this way monarchy was formally cancelled ( it should be noted that the lowest turnout was in Serbia ).

As for the elections in the countries in eastern Europe where there was significant soviet presence, at least in the beginning they were undertaken as multi-party and more or less democraticly.

Key words: Jugoslavia, Eastern Europe, elections, Communist Party, USSR, Great Britain