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1938 Bulgarian parliamentary election

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Field	Value
map	Bulgaria 1938 legislative election.svg
country	Bulgaria
flag_year	1938
nopercentage	yes
previous_election	[1931](1931-bulgarian-parliamentary-election)
next_election	[1939](1939-bulgarian-parliamentary-election)
seats_for_election	All 160 seats in the National Assembly
majority_seats	81
turnout	69.53%
first_election	yes
election_date	6–27 March 1938
party1	Government	party1_link = no	leader1 = Boris III	seats1 = 97
party2	Democratic Unification	party2_link = no	leader2 = Angel Stankov	seats2 = 56	color2 = #ECE2AF
party3	National Social Movement–Tsankov	leader3 = Aleksandar Tsankov	seats3 = 3
party4	Independent Agrarians	leader4 = –	seats4 = 2
party5	National Liberal Party (G. Petrov)	leader5 =	seats5 = 1
party6	People's Party	leader6 = Atanas Burov	seats6 = 1
title	Prime Minister
before_election	Georgi Kyoseivanov
before_party	Kyoseivanov II (Ind.)
after_election	Georgi Kyoseivanov
after_party	Kyoseivanov II (Ind.)

Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria to elect members of the XXIV Ordinary National Assembly between 6 and 27 March 1938, the first after the 1934 coup. The elections were held on a non-partisan basis, with all parties banned. Pro-government candidates won a majority of seats. Voter turnout was 70%. Women were allowed to vote – for the first time – if they were married, divorced or widowed.

Despite gerrymandering and manipulation, the opposition performed unexpectedly well. Following the election, three meetings were held in April 1938, one with 17 MPs from the regions of Burgas and Stara Zagora, one with 42 from Vratsa, Pleven and Shumen and one with 32 from Plovdiv and Sofia, with all of them expressing support for the government and a further six expressed support without being present, for a total of 97 pro-government MPs. Despite the non-partisan nature of the election, only ten elected MPs had never previously been members of any defunct parties.

Electoral system

For the first time since the 1911 election MPs were elected under first-past-the-post, with 160 separate constituencies, some of them gerrymandered.

Conduct

The elections were held on different dates in different regions to facilitate the presence of the armed forces for voter dispersion during the electoral campaign and exert pressure, make arrest and hinder the distribution of opposition ballots on election day.

Results

Aftermath

The government achieved a closer majority than expected, and after the election successfully pressured a number of opposition MPs to change sides. Prime Minister Georgi Kyoseivanov continued his term. In July he signed the Salonika Agreement with the Balkan Pact, which removed the arms restrictions placed on Bulgaria. After the outbreak of World War II, Tsar Boris III dissolved the Assembly and scheduled elections for 1939.

Notes

References

[[Dieter Nohlen]] & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p368 {{ISBN. 978-3-8329-5609-7
Nohlen & Stöver, p354
Nohlen & Stöver, p386
Nohlen & Stöver, p370
Krassimira Daskalova. (2007). "Aspasia: International Yearbook of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European Women's and Gender History".
Kumanov, Milen. Political organizations and movements in Bulgaria and their leaders 1879-1949, Sofia 1991.
Tsurakov, Angel. Encyclopedia of Governments, National Assemblies, and Assassinations in Bulgaria. Sofia, Trud Publishing House, 2008. ISBN 954-528-790-X, p. 193-204.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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