1920 Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Constitutional Assembly election

1920 Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Constitutional Assembly election
All 419 seats in the Constituent Assembly; 210 seats needed for a majority
Prime Minister before election; Ljubomir Davidović; DS	Elected Prime; Minister ; Ljubomir Davidović; DS

Constitutional Assembly elections were held in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on 28 November 1920. The Democratic Party emerged as the largest faction, winning 92 of the 419 seats.^[1] Deputies are elected by secret ballot, in a direct manner, by the electoral quotient system. The 1920 elections were the first democratic elections in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Shortly after the election, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia was banned by the authorities.

Background[edit]

Up until the elections a Provisional Assembly had existed of unelected delegates from each of the constituent regions of the country.

Province	Seats in Provisional Assembly	Seats in Constitutional Assembly
Bosnia and Herzegovina	42	63
Croatia-Slavonia	62	93
Dalmatia	12	11
Istria	4	N/A
Montenegro	12	10
Northern Serbia	84	103
Southern Serbia	24	55
Slovenia	32	40
Vojvodina	24	44
Total	296	419

Electoral districts[edit]

The electoral districts corresponded to administrative divisions of the constitutive lands which came together to form the Kingdom in late 1918. There were 56 in total:

Province	No. of electoral districts	Districts
Bosnia and Herzegovina	6	Banja Luka, Bihać, Mostar, Sarajevo, Travnik, Tuzla
Croatia-Slavonia	9	Bjelovar-Križevci, Lika-Krbava, Modruš-Rijeka, Požega, Syrmia, Varaždin (with Međimurje), Virovitica, Zagreb, City of Zagreb
Dalmatia	2	Dubrovnik-Kotor-Split, Šibenik-Zadar
Montenegro	1	Montenegro (single district)
Northern Serbia	18	Belgrade, City of Belgrade, Čačak, Kragujevac, Krajina, Kruševac, Morava, Niš, Pirot, Podrinje, Požarevac, Rudnik, Smederevo, Timok, Toplica, Užice, Valjevo, Vranje
Southern Serbia	12	Berane-Bijelo Polje-Pljevlja-Prijepolje, Bitola, Bregalnica, Kosovo, Kumanovo, Metohija, Ohrid, Prizren, Raška-Zvečan, Skopje, Tetovo, Tikveš
Slovenia	3	Celje-Maribor, Ljubljana-Novo Mesto, City of Ljubljana
Vojvodina	5	Veliki Bečkerek-Velika Kikinda, Novi Sad, Pančevo-Bela Crkva, Sombor, Subotica
Total	56

Parties[edit]

There were a total of 22 party lists and one independent list.

Croatian Husbandmen's Party (Hrvatska težačka stranka, HTS) - Croatian nationalist political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina formed in 1919.^[2] Its leader Jozo Sunarić had been a leading member of the Croat People's Union in the former Diet of Bosnia.
Croatian Popular Party (Hrvatska pučka stranka, HPS) - Political party formed in 1919 associated with the Croatian Catholic movement.^[2] It ran candidates in districts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia-Slavonia, Dalmatia, and Vojvodina.
Independent Agrarian Party (Samostojna kmetijska stranka, SKS) - Slovenian anti-clerical political party founded in June 1919 in Ljubljana.
People's Radical Party (Narodna radikalna stranka, NRS) - Formed in Serbia in 1881, the People's Radical Party had formed the government of the Kingdom of Serbia since 1909 and its party leader Nikola Pašić became the first prime minister of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918. Džemijet entered a coalition with the People's Radical Party and won six deputies.
Yugoslav Democratic Party (Jugoslovenska demokratska stranka, JDS) - Formed by former members of the Croat-Serb Coalition in Austria-Hungary led by Croatian Serb Svetozar Pribićević and opposition politicians in Serbia led by Ljubomir Davidović in February 1919. The party advocated a centralized state and the abolishment of regional autonomy.^[2]

Results[edit]


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Democratic Party	319,448	19.88	92
	People's Radical Party	284,575	17.71	91
	Croatian Popular Peasant Party	230,590	14.35	50
	Communist Party	198,736	12.37	58
	Agrarian Alliance–Independent Agrarian Party	151,603	9.43	39
	Yugoslav Muslim Organization	110,895	6.90	24
	Slovene People's Party	58,971	3.67	14
	Bunjevac-Šokac Party–Croatian Popular Party list	52,333	3.26	13
	Social Democratic Party	46,792	2.91	10
	Croatian Husbandmen's Party	38,400	2.39	7
	Džemijet	30,029	1.87	8
	Croatian Union	25,867	1.61	4
	Republican Party	18,136	1.13	3
	Croatian Party of Rights	10,880	0.68	2
	Ante Trumbić	6,581	0.41	1
	People's Socialist Party	6,186	0.38	2
	Liberal Party	5,061	0.31	1
	Others	12,118	0.75	0
Total		1,607,201	100.00	419

Registered voters/turnout		2,480,623	–
Source: Nohlen et al.

References[edit]

^ Dieter Nohlen, Dolf Sternberger, Bernhard Vogel, Klaus Landfried (1969) Die Wahl der Parlamente und andere Staatsorgane, Walter de Gruyter, p783
^ ^a ^b ^c Donia, Robert J. (2006). Sarajevo: A Biography. University of Michigan Press. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-4721-1557-0.

External links[edit]

[N1-1] Dieter Nohlen, Dolf Sternberger, Bernhard Vogel, Klaus Landfried (1969) Die Wahl der Parlamente und andere Staatsorgane, Walter de Gruyter, p783

[D-2] Donia, Robert J. (2006). Sarajevo: A Biography. University of Michigan Press. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-4721-1557-0.

[1]

[2]

v t e Elections in Yugoslavia
Parliamentary elections	1920 1923 1925 1927 1931 1935 1938 1945 1950 1953 1958 1963 1969 1974 1978 1982 1986
Upper house elections	1932 1935 1939
Local elections	1920 1923 1927 1936 1940
See also: Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Kosovo Montenegro North Macedonia Serbia Serbia & Montenegro Slovenia