ELECTION ORDER

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 138, 23 March 1948, Page 3

ELECTION ORDER

Czechoslovak Situation

(Rec. 11 a.m.) PRAGUE, March 22. Vaglav Nosek, Minister of the Interior, told the district Communist Party conference in Bohemia to-day that an order for a general election, which is due early in the summer, was being prepared for Parliament. The election, he said, would.be free and democratic, but no collaborators would be permitted to vote, and “all those who, after the revolution, offended against ■ the interests of the Republic and the people’s democracy, will be prevented from voting, in which respect the role of action committees was l especially important.” M. Gottwald told the correspondent of the Associated Press that he could foresee little opposition to the Government programme. The elections, “held in accordance with the terms of the law, will confirm the victory of the people and the defeat of the reaction,” said the Premier. , . The former Vice-Premier, M. Jan Sramek, and the former Minister of Posts, M. Hala, were arrested yesterday while trying to leave Czechoslovakia illegally by air, says an official announcement. It adds that large sums in Czech and foreign currency were found on the ex-Ministers. Sramek and Hala were among the group of Ministers whose resignations brought the Czech crisis to a head. v - "