The Justice Ministry gave a communique, published by the press
on November 23, to the effect that 6,934,983 people had voted in the
elections, and that the total number of voters registered was 7,859,-
212. Accordingly, it proudly held that 88.99 per cent of the eligible
electorate had participated in the elections of November 19th. This
was the official story, and the Government was to stick to it.
  There were also published the figures of percentages of the popu-
lar vote secured by the various participant parties. This document
is given as enclosure No. 9.65 It shows that in six prefectures the
Government permitted itself not to secure a majority. In three of
those districts the majority was permitted to go to the Hungarian
Popular Union, which it knew would cooperate with the DPB. In
two of the six districts, it shared the overwhelming majority vote with
the Hungarian Popular Union, while in one district, Botosani, it
permitted the combined opposition to outvote the DPB. This, as
some observers have cynically pointed out, could even be overcome at
a later date by revised calculations when results were published in
the Ofcial Gazette.
  The election results officially gave the Government over 70 percent
of the votes, whereas a survey of available reports of public feeling
on election day and a cross-section of the free vote information show
that the Government might not have garnered ten per cent of the
electorate in its favor. In any event, the Democratic Parties Bloc
was credited with 84.5 per cent or 348 seats in the new Parliament,
the National Peasants with 7.75 per cent or 32 seats, the Hungarian
Liberals with .72 percent or 3 seats, and the Democratic Peasants of
Dr. Lupu with .48 per cent or 2 seats. The distribution of electoral
seats by districts as it appeared in the press is contained in enclosure
No. 10.66
  Following the announcement of the electoral results, the victors
began quarreling over the spoils, and there were varying figures, all
of which still placed the Social Democratic element within the DPB
as having elected the most numerous deputies, with the Tatarescu
Liberals and the Plowmen's Front virtually in a tie, closely
followed by the Communists. The National Popular Party and the
Dissident National Peasants were in the lower categories of the coali-
tion. It was nevertheless true that the Communists in real numbers
dominated the coalition through their control over Communists and
fellow travelers camouflaged throughout the nominally elected lists
of all of the other coalition parties. Nevertheless, the Socialists
wished for a larger number of cabinet seats and pointedly refused
  °6 Not printed.



665



RUMANIA