The election to the Carpatho-Ukrainian Soim in February 1939 (Part II.)

The study analyses the elections to the Carpatho-Ukrainian Soim in February 1939, mainly the declaration of elections, the campaign, the minority aspects, and the results of the elections. Avgustyn Voloshyn’s pro-Ukrainian government made the running of the other political forces in the elections impossible by playing the game of scheduling the elections, by banning political parties and by rejection of the opposition’s list of candidates. Out of the 32 candidates on the list of the governing Ukrainian National Union (UNO), there was one representative of the German, Czech and Romanian minorities each. Representation of the Jews, the largest minority, was not even considered by the government, and the leaders of the Hungarian minority not only failed to participate on the list of candidates but they even requested Hungarian voters to reject it. All this was connected with the unfriendly relations of the Carpatho-Ukrainian government and Budapest, resp. the Hungarian minority in Subcarpathia, as well as with Hungary’s efforts to seize the territory of Subcarpathia. The election campaign did not differ from the procedure proven in the totalitarian regimes. According to the official results, 92.4 per cents of the voters approved the election list of the UNO. The minorities, including the Jews, who did not want to be accused from opposing the Carpatho-Ukrainian regime, mostly also supported the check list. Most of the votes against were given by Hungarian voters.