Romanian general election, 1937

Romanian general election, 1937

20 December 1937 (1937-12-20)
All 113 seats in the Senate All 387 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Turnout	66.1%
First party Second party   Leader Dinu Brătianu Iuliu Maniu Party PNL PNȚ Leader since 1934 1937 Last election 105 S / 300 D 0 S / 29 D Seats won 97 S / 152 D 10 S / 86 D Seat change 8 S / 148 D 10 S / 57 D Popular vote 1,103,353 D 626,612 D Percentage 36.5% D 20.7% D   Third party Fourth party   Leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu Octavian Goga Party TpȚ PNC Leader since 1933 1935 Last election New party 0 S / 18 D Seats won 4 S / 66 D 0 S / 39 D Seat change 4 S / 66 D 0 S / 21 D Popular vote 478,378 D 281,167 D Percentage 15.8% D 9.3% D

General elections were held in Romania in December 1937. The Chamber of Deputies was elected on 20 December, whilst the Senate was elected in three stages on 22, 28 and 30 December. The National Liberal Party remained the largest party, winning 152 of the 387 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 97 of the 112 seats in the Senate, although it lost its majority in the Chamber. The party's unexpectedly poor showing (failing to obtain 40% of the vote, which would have automatically guaranteed them a large parliamentary majority) meant they could not form a coalition with either their arch-rivals the National Peasants' Party or with the Iron Guard's Everything for the Country Party, King Carol II invited the poet Octavian Goga to form a government, despite the fact that his National Christian Party finished fourth and had an avowedly anti-Semitic platform.

Unlike all previous Romanian elections organised by partisan governments, the 1937 result did not provide the governing party--in this case, the National Liberals--with an outright majority. As it turned out, this would be the last election held under the nominally democratic 1926 electoral law, and the last free election of any sort until 1990. The following February, Carol dissolved Parliament only three months into its term and instituted a royal dictatorship. By the next elections held under the 1923 Constitution, in 1946, Romania had passed through three dictatorships and a fourth, Communist one was rapidly consolidating. It was also the last election held under universal male suffrage.

File:Alegeri parlamentare 1937.png

Results of the 1937 general elections at county level

Campaign

During the first round, clashes occurred at Orhei and Târgu Mureş, killing four and leading 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

Party	Chamber				Senate
	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
National Liberal Party	1,103,353	36.5	152	–148			97	–8
National Peasants' Party	626,612	20.7	86	+57			10	+10
Everything for the Country Party	478,378	15.8	66	New			4	New
National Christian Party	281,167	9.3	39	+21			0	0
Magyar Party	136,139	4.5	19	+11			2	–1
National Liberal Party-Brătianu	119,361	3.9	16	+6			0	0
Radical Peasants' Party	69,198	2.3	9	+3			0	0
Agrarian Union Party	52,101	1.7	0	–5			0	0
Jewish Party	43,681	1.4	0	0			0	0
German Party	43,612	1.4	0	New			0	New
Social Democratic Party	28,840	1.0	0	0			0	0
People's Party	25,567	0.8	0	0			0	0
Traders Council	1,219	0.0	0	0			0	0
Other parties	16,912	0.6	0	–			0	–
Invalid/blank votes	45,555	–	–	–		–	–	–
Total	3,071,695	100	387	0			113	+5
Registered voters/turnout	4,649,163	66.1	–	–			–	–
Source: Sternberger et al., Nohlen & Stöver

References

• Kurt W. Treptow (1996) "Alegerile din decembrie 1937 şi instaurarea dictaturii regale" in Romania and World War II, Centrul de Studii Româneşti, Iaşi (Romanian)
• "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