Soočenje liberalnega in katoliškega tabora na volitvah v Narodno skupščino v Kraljevini SHS

Abstract

The paper deals with the pre-electoral confrontation between the Slovene Liberal and Catholic camps at the 1923, 1925 and 1927 elections to the National Assembly of the Kingdom of the SCS. No elected Assembly ever reached the end of its four year term, as prescribed by the Constitution, which is indicative of the political instability in the country at the time. During the 1920s, the individual pre-electoral programmes of the Slovene parties varied in their emphasis. While the 1923 elections, at least in Slovenia, proved to be some kind of a referendum on the Vidovdan Constitution, the 1925 and 1927 pre-election campaigns were mainly about recapitulating the past and sharply discrediting political adversaries. All three elections were marked by the landslide victory of the Slovene People's Party. This was the only political party in Slovenia, which managed to preserve a homogenous structure and electoral body throughout the 1920s, whilst the Liberal camp often experienced internal rifts. The various government restrictions on the opposition parties during their pre-electoral campaign and even the exercise of physical violence by the state law-enforcement agencies, was each time a clear indication of the extremely conflicting relations in the country.