1938 Yugoslavian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Yugoslavia on 11 December 1938.[1] The result was a victory for the governing Yugoslav Radical Union, which won 306 of the 373 seats in Parliament.

1938 Kingdom of Yugoslavia parliamentary election
11 December 1938
All 373 seats to the Narodna skupština
Turnout74.5%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Milan Stojadinović Vladko Maček
Party JRZ HSS
Alliance JRZ coalition United Opposition
Last election 303 seats, 60.6% 67 seats, 37.4%
Seats won 306 67
Seat change 3 0
Popular vote 1,643,783 1,364,524
Percentage 54.1% 44.9%
Prime Minister before election

Milan Stojadinović
JRZ

 Elected Prime
Minister

Dragiša Cvetković
JRZ

These would be the last elections held in Yugoslavia before World War II. By the time of the first postwar elections, in 1945, a Communist regime was rapidly consolidating, and the non-Communist opposition boycotted the vote after claiming to have been targeted with severe intimidation.[2] As a result, the 1938 elections would be the last multi-party elections held in Yugoslavia until the Communists gave up their monopoly of power in 1990.[3]

Coalitions

The Yugoslav Radical Union (JRZ, Jereza) led by PM Milan Stojadinović, form an right-wing alliance with:

The United Opposition alliance was consisted of:

Results
Party Votes % Seats +/–
Yugoslav Radical Union1,643,78354.1306+3
United Opposition1,364,52444.9670
Yugoslav National Movement30,7341.000
Total3,039,041100373+3
Registered voters/turnout4,080,28674.5––
Source: Nohlen et al.

Aftermath

Although the United Opposition, de facto led by Maček, had attracted 44.9% of the vote, due to the electoral rules by which the government parties received 40% of the seats in the National Assembly before votes were counted, the opposition vote only translated into 67 seats out of a total of 373.[4]

Following the election, there was a faction led by the commander of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force (VVKJ), General Dušan Simović, that contemplated a pro-Serb coup. Simović had been involved in similar plotting earlier in the year.[5]

Sources
  • Onslow, Sue (March 2005). "Britain and the Belgrade Coup of 27 March 1941 Revisited" (PDF). Electronic Journal of International History. University of London (8): 359–370. ISSN 1471-1443.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Ramet, Sabrina P. (2006). The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building and Legitimation, 1918–2005. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34656-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

References
  1. Dieter Nohlen, Dolf Sternberger, Bernhard Vogel, Klaus Landfried (1969) Die Wahl der Parlamente und andere Staatsorgane, Walter de Gruyter, p784
  2. "Elections In Yugoslavia", The Times, 9 November 1945
  3. Rome Tempest (January 23, 1990). "Communists in Yugoslavia Split Into Factions". Los Angeles Times.
  4. Ramet 2006, p. 104.
  5. Onslow 2005, p. 37.
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