1940 Latvian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 14 and 15 July 1940, alongside simultaneous similarly undemocratic and anticonstitutional elections in Estonia and Lithuania,[1] following the Soviet occupation of the three countries. The Communist Party of Latvia was legalised and renamed the "Working People's Bloc" (Darba ļaužu bloks).[2] It was the sole permitted participant in the election, as an attempt to include the Democratic Bloc (Demokrātiskais bloks; an alliance of all now-banned Latvian parties except the Social Democratic Workers' Party) on the ballot was suppressed,[3] and the main figures of the bloc either arrested and deported (Atis Ķeniņš, Pēteris Berģis and Jānis Bankavs) or shot (Hugo Celmiņš) shortly after, while a few (Voldemārs Zāmuēls, Jānis Breikšs) managed to escape the repression by fleeing from the country.

Along with its sister parliaments in Estonia (Riigivolikogu) and Lithuania (Liaudies Seimas), the newly elected People's Parliament (Tautas Saeima) convened on 21 July. It declared Latvia a Soviet republic and requested admission to the Soviet Union on the same day. The request was approved by the Soviet government on 5 August.[4] This move was illegal under the Latvian Constitution, which stipulated that a major change to the basic constitutional order could only be enacted after two-thirds of the electorate approved it via a plebiscite.

Soviet sources maintained that the election marked the culmination of a socialist revolution that the Latvian people carried out free of Soviet influence, and the "People's Parliament" was a democratic institution of the Latvian people that ultimately voted to join the Soviet Union. However, Baltic and Western sources maintained that the election was merely an attempt to give legal sanction to a Soviet occupation.[5]

When Latvia declared independence in 1990, it contended that the 1940 election was illegal on several counts. According to the declaration, the election was conducted on the basis of an unconstitutional and illegal election law, and the election results were heavily falsified. It also noted that the Working People's Bloc was the only party allowed to contest the election out of 17 that submitted lists, and accused the bloc of deceiving the people about its intention to make Latvia part of the Soviet Union. On this basis, the declaration argued that all acts of the People's Saeima, including the request to join the Soviet Union, were void.[6]

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats
Latvian Working People's League	1,155,807	97.8	100
Against	25,516	2.2	–
Total	1,181,323	100	100
Registered voters/turnout	1,246,216	94.8	–
Source: My Riga

See also

• 1940 Estonian parliamentary election
• 1940 Lithuanian parliamentary election

References

1. Romuald J. Misiunas & Rein Taagepera (1983) The Baltic States, Years of Dependence, 1940-1980, University of California Press, p25
2. Vincent E McHale (1983) Political parties of Europe, Greenwood Press, p450 ISBN 0-313-23804-9
3. Misiunas & Taagepera, p26
4. Misiunas & Taagepera, p28
5. Roberts, Geoffrey (1995). "Soviet policy and the Baltic States, 1939–1940: a reappraisal". Diplomacy & Statecraft. 6 (3): 672–700. doi:10.1080/09592299508405982.
6. Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR (1990-05-04). "On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia" (in Latvian). Latvijas Vēstnesis. Retrieved 2008-01-05.