Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 15 May 1949.[1] The Hungarian Independent People's Front, an umbrella group created that February to replace the National Independence Front and led by the Hungarian Working People's Party (as the Hungarian Communist Party had been renamed following a merger with the Hungarian Social Democratic Party), but also including the remaining four non-communist parties, ran a single list of candidates espousing a common programme.[2] With all organised opposition having been paralysed,[3] the Front won 95.6% of the vote,[4] presaging the result of elections through 1990. 71 (17.7%) elected deputies were female, up from 22 (5.4%) elected in 1947.[5] Some 71% of those elected belonged to the Working People's Party, and a similar proportion were workers or peasants.[6]
This election marked the onset of 40 years of communist rule in Hungary. Nonetheless, the government formed after the election was still nominally a coalition. The Smallholders received the Ministries of Trade and Religion and Education in addition to the premiership, and the National Peasants Party receiving Agriculture and Construction. After the election, the Front's local committees dissolved themselves, and with them the National Peasant and Independent Smallholder local organs, although no law or ordinance was ever passed abolishing them.[7]
^Wittenberg, Jason. Crucibles of Political Loyalty, p.88. Cambridge University Press (2006), ISBN0-521-84912-8
^Ekert, Grzegorz. The State Against Society, p.43. Princeton University Press (1996), ISBN0-691-01113-3
^Soberg Shugart, Matthew and Wattenberg, Martin P. Mixed-member Electoral Systems: The Best of Both Worlds? Oxford University Press (2001), ISBN0-19-925768-X
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