Parliamentary elections were held in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

on 14 and 15 July 1940 alongside simultaneous elections in Latvia and Lithuania. The elections followed the

Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...

of the three countries. As was the case in Latvia and Lithuania, the elections in Estonia were blatantly rigged. They were also unconstitutional, since only seats for the lower chamber of the

Riigikogu The Riigikogu (; from Estonian ''riigi-'', of the state, and ''kogu'', assembly) is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the Prime Minister and Chief Just ...

, the Chamber of Deputies, were contested; the upper chamber, the National Council, had been dissolved and was never reconvened. According to August Rei, one of independent Estonia's last envoys to Moscow, under the Estonian constitution, the Chamber of Deputies had "no legislative power" apart from the National Council. The

Estonian Working People's Union The Estonian Working People's Union ( et, Eesti Töötava Rahva Liit) was a front organization of the Communist Party of Estonia (''de facto'' controlled by the Stalinist Soviet regime and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union) formed to c ...

, a Communist front group, was the only party allowed to run and won all 80 seats, allegedly with 92.8% of the votes cast and the remaining 7.2% having been declared invalid. The newly elected " People's Riigikogu" declared the Estonian SSR on 21 July and requested admission to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

the following day. The request was approved by the Soviet government on 6 August.The Soviet Era, 1940-85
Library of Congress Country Studies

Background

The elections followed the Soviet occupation of Estonia in June. The

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

established the Estonian Working People's Union to run in the elections, whilst despite having only three days to organise, the opposition put forward 78 candidates in 66 of the 80

constituencies.Romuald J. Misiunas & Rein Taagepera (1983)
The Baltic States, Years of Dependence, 1940-1980
', University of California Press, pp25–28 However, Prime Minister

Johannes Vares Johannes Vares (pen name Barbarus or Vares-Barbarus – 29 November 1946) was an Estonian and Soviet poet, medical doctor, and politician. Vares was born in a farmer family in the village of Kiisa, near Viljandi, Estonia. He received secondary ...

was ordered by Soviet politician

Andrei Zhdanov Andrei Aleksandrovich Zhdanov ( rus, Андре́й Алекса́ндрович Жда́нов, p=ɐnˈdrej ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈʐdanəf, links=yes; – 31 August 1948) was a Soviet politician and cultural ideologist. After World War ...

to remove opposition candidates from the ballot. Opposition candidates were required to present a manifesto within a few hours, which most of them did. However, almost all were subsequently removed by a mixture of threats, violence and invalidations. Only one opposition candidate remained; Jüri Rajur-Liivak, who was later arrested along with the other removed candidates.The White Book
Riigikogu

Conduct

On the first day of the election the main daily newspaper ''

Rahva Hääl ''Rahva Hääl'' (lit. ''The People's Voice'') was the official daily newspaper of the Communist Party of Estonia during Soviet occupation of Estonia. It was founded shortly after the first Soviet takeover in 1940 based on offices and resources ...

'' told readers that "it would be extremely unwise to shirk elections... Only people's enemies stay at home on election day."

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

troops were present in the polling stations in Tartu.

Results

During the

German occupation of Estonia during World War II During World War II, in the course of Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany invaded Estonia in July–December 1941, and occupied the country until 1944. Estonia had gained independence in 1918 from the then warring German and Russian Empires. H ...

the figures from the election were re-examined. Voter turnout was found to have been 80.1%, and the proportion of total votes for the Working People's Union was revised down to 91.6%. The distortions in the official figures were caused by officials artificially reducing the number of registered voters and counting invalid votes as valid ones,Olev Liivik
Formation of the Supreme Soviet of the ESSR: Elections and the principles of assembling
Estonian Institute of Historical Memory, pp9–10 as well as assigning votes received by Rajur-Liivak to the Working People's Union. Additional evidence was uncovered that the Election Committee had forged 35,119 votes.

References

{{Estonian elections

1940 in Estonia Parliamentary elections in Estonia One-party elections

Background

Conduct

Results

See also

References