Századok – 2014
MŰHELY - Toth, Andrej: Magyar kisebbségi politikai pártok Csehszlovákiában és az 1935. évi elnökválasztás VI/1517
1558 TOTH ANDREJ POLITICAL PARTIES OF THE HUNGARIAN MINORITY IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1935 by Tóth Andrej (Summary) On 19 December 1935 the senators and representatives seated in the National Assembly elected with overwhelming majority Edvard Benes, then minister of foreign affairs, as the second president of the Republic of Czechoslovakia. His nomination was supported by all the Czechoslovak political parties, that is, by those of the agrarians, the social democrats, the artisans and tradesmen and the communists. He also enjoyed the backing of the representatives and senators of the German activist parties, namely the German social democrats, Christian socialists and agrarians. For the first time in the history of Czechoslovakia, the representatives of the Hungarian minority parties also played an active role, who during the previous presidential elections manifested their opposition to the constitutional structure of the Czechoslovak state by handing in unfilled voting papers. The Hungarian legislators took a coordinated stance at the elections, as it was publicly declared by their leaders. The constructive attitude of their parties was appreciated by the newly elected president immediately after the elections. Thereafter, however, doubts were raised with regard to the votes given by the representatives of the Hungarian National Party. Twelve among the fourteen representatives of the Hungarian parties were present, and eleven were supposed to have voted for Benes. Doubtful remained the vote of Jaross, acting president of the Hungarian National Party, and that of Szent-Ivány, political leader of the party, who had long resisted the pressure exerted on him by the Hungarian ambassador at Prague to vote for Benes.
