PREDETERMINED VICTORY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26772, 15 May 1948, Page 13

PREDETERMINED VICTORY

CZECH COMMUNIST PARTY LITTLE CHOICE TO VOTERS Rec. 10 p.m. LONDON, May 13. Since the Czechoslovak parliamentary elections which take place on May 30 are elections only in name, it is not surprising that the public is giving them scarcely a thought, says the Prague correspondent of The Times. The voter knows that he has no real chance as he,is being asked to accept on trust a single list of 770 candidates drawn from the four political parties. Of these, 300 will be finally selected as deputies by agreement between the party leaders. It is no. secret, The Times correspondent says, that the composition of the next National Assembly has already been approximately determined. The arrangement at present is that 211 of the 300 seats are to be occupied by Communists,. and on the fusion of the Communist and Social Democratic parties after the elections the Communists will hold altogether 236 seats. The only alternatives the voter has to signify assent to these arrangements are to stay home von polling day or hand in a blank paper, and the whole might of the Communist propaganda machine is at work to persuade him to do either. The elections, he is ? told, will be carried out “ in full civic freedom and without pressure from any side,” and he is urged not to be so irresponsible as to evade his duty to vote.