Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 14 and 15 July 1940, alongside simultaneous elections in Estonia and Lithuania.[1] The elections followed the Soviet occupation of the three countries, and were rigged. The Communist Party of Latvia was legalised and renamed the "Working People's Bloc".[2] It was the sole permitted participant in the election, after an attempt to include the Democratic Bloc (an alliance of all now-banned Latvian parties except the Social Democratic Workers' Party) on the ballot failed.[3]
Along with its sister parliaments in Estonia and Lithuania, the newly elected People's Parliament convened on 21 July to declare the Latvian SSR, requesting admission to the Soviet Union on the same day. The request was approved by the Soviet government on 5 August.[4]
