ANALELE BANATULUI, S.N., ARHEOLOGIE – ISTORIE, XXIII, 2015 http://muzeulbanatului.ro/mbt/istorie/publicatii/ab.htm THE BANAT POLITICAL ELITE DURING THE 1926 GENERAL ELECTIONS* Ovidiu Emil Iudean** Keywords: 1926 parliamentary elections, Banat, political elite, political options Cuvinte cheie: alegerile parlamentare din 1926, Banat, elită politică, opțiuni politice (Abstract) The present study aims to analyze the electoral phenomena in which the regional political elite from Banat were involved during the parliamentary elections in May 1926. Based on archival sources and information extracted from the contemporary early 20th century press, we will trace the coordinates of the national and regional political context, conduct a prosopographic analysis of the interwar Banat political elite, and discuss the electoral strategies employed as well as the outcomes of the elections. The conclusions will focus on the role of the 1926 elections from Banat in the process of the integration of the regional parliamentary elites in the political life of Greater Romania. tarting with the mid - 19th century, the elec- political life of Greater Romania was a lengthy tions for parliament represented turning process, a fact also reflected at an electoral level. pointsS in the history of the Banat. By the middle The specific socio-political realities of the Banat of the first half of the 20th century, the electoral corroborated with the multi-ethnic and multi-con- experience amassed by the Banat voters had led fessional character of the region, its electoral tradi- them to grow aware of the fact that, periodically, a tion, and the transformations which had occurred right they were able to exercise could function as at the level of the political elite after 1918 argue for a means of solving their own issues. While indi- a differentiated approach of this region from the vidual and group interests had thus been essential perspective of the interwar electoral phenomena. factors in the differentiated voting choices, the Despite the fact that numerous studies have 1926 elections placed the Banat voter group in focused on the parliamentary elections in inter- an unexpected position. For the first time in the war Romania2, a regional-level analysis may be electoral history of Banat since 1848, the voters no more appropriate for the understanding of the longer had to choose between two or more persons complex phenomena that they represented. The who were directly opposed in the electoral process, present approach meets precisely this need, while but rather to select their preferred candidate lists the choice of the precise time frame selected has provided by the parties. a twofold justification, related to changes in leg- Following the Great Union of 1918 and the islation that directly affected the abovementioned Paris Peace Conference of 1919, two thirds of the 2 Among the more recent contributions to the discussion territory of the historical province of Banat was should be mentioned: Sorin Radu, „Electoral Behavior of incorporated into the borders of the Kingdom National Minorities în Transylvania during the First Interwar of Romania1. The integration of this space in the Decade. Considerations”, in V. Ciobanu, S. Radu (eds.), Partide politice si minorităţi naţionale din România în secolul * This study was supported by the strategic grant POSDRU/ XX, Sibiu, Editura Universităţii Lucian Blaga from Sibiu, 159/1.5/S/140863, Project ID 140863 (2014), co-financed 2006; Mihai Panu, „Reprezentarea politică a minorităţii by the European Social Fund within the Sectorial Operational germane în Banatul interbelic”. V. Ciobanu, S. Radu (coord.) Program Human Resources Development 2007 – 2013. Partide politice şi minorităţi naţionale din România în secolul ** Universitatea de Vest, Bulevardul Vasile Pârvan, nr. 4, XX, Vol. V, Sibiu, Editura Techno Media, 2010;Vasile 300223, Timișoara, Romania. E-mail: ovidiu.iudean@gmail. Dudaș, „Alegerile parlamentare din anul 1919 în județul com. Caraș-Severin” in Analele Banatului, S.N., Arheologie – Istorie, 1 Marin et alii 1968, 200 – 204. XIX, 2011. 451 ANALELE BANATULUI, S.N., ARHEOLOGIE – ISTORIE, XXIII, 2015 electoral phenomena. Firstly, the electoral law of Mihalache (the Peasant Party), the King suggested March 1926 introduced the voting on lists and the solution of a so-called national concentration the “majority bonus”3 and secondly, the Royal government. While Averescu agreed to the sover- decree no. 284 of December 25th1925 re-divided eign’s recommendation, the National and Peasant the Banat from an administrative perspective Party leaders were fervently opposed to the “uncon- into three counties – Caraș, Severin and Timiș- ditional” fusion of the three political formations Torontal.4 It should be noted that the present under the former’s leadership. In the context of the study exclusively focuses on the elections for the failure of this idea, which would have led to the Chamber of Deputies. formation of a government containing members The main sources of the research are documents of all the three parties, each political organization found within five archival funds as well as articles submitted its own lists for ministry positions to the from the regional and central press of the times. sovereign. Their proposals did not however satisfy From a methodological perspective, we will, on the the sovereign, who required Nicolae Iorga to one hand, take the specific steps of the historical submit a common list for the Peasant and National method – the identification of sources followed Parties. Despite the fact that the list was submitted by their critique and interpretation –, but on the during the same day, Iorga’s assertion that it was other hand we will also conduct a qualitative and incomplete made the monarch suspicious, due to quantitative analysis enabled by the diversity and his fears that Constantin Stere, whom he regarded amount of available information. Moreover, in as “dangerous, with a hidden agenda” 7 could be co- order to more vividly depict the situation of the opted into the government. political elite from Banat, who were active during King Ferdinand’s initial option – favorable to the 1926 elections, we will conduct a prosopo- Iuliu Maniu and the National Party – was thus graphic analysis of the candidate group, which abandoned and, as a result of the pressures made in presupposes that their biographic information will Ion I.C. Brătianu’s name, Alexandru Averescu was be extracted and interpreted according to a pre-set appointed as president of the Council of Ministers. questionnaire and in connection to the general However, as the People’s Party did not enjoy a great historical context.5 degree of popularity in ranks of the voters, and moreover lacked political influence, three members I. The general political background of the National Party were also appointed as min- As the mandate of the government led by Ion isters: Vasile Goldiș, Ioan I. Lapedatu and Ioan I. C. Brătianu neared its conclusion, the issue of Lupaș. By integrating the National Party group led its succession came to the fore. While Iuliu Maniu by Goldiș, the already extant adversity between the was preferred by the King for the position of opposition parties and the new government was prime-minister, the national-peasant composition significantly amplified8. of the envisaged government caused the sovereign The Averescu government dissolved the to manifest a reserved attitude, on account of his Parliament and set the date for the following par- reticence towards the adherents of the Peasant liamentary elections for the 25th of May for the Party. In order to resolve the matter, Maniu Chamber of Deputies, and 28th of May for the assured King Ferdinand that he would not tolerate Senate. These would be followed by the meeting any political wavering from his political partners, of the country’s new legislative corps on the 25th assuming moreover a firm attitude in the negotia- of June 1926. tions held with the members of the Peasant Party concerning the formation of the new government II. The organization of the general elections and the appointment of the new prefects6. in Banat After Ion I.C. Brătianu had officially ended Both during the prewar and the interwar his mandate in March, the King initiated consul- periods, the Banat regions affirmed itself as a sig- tations with the leading political figures in order nificant electoral pool, especially due to the high to constitute the new government. Following his number of parliamentary representatives it elected. meetings with Nicolae Iorga (the National Party), In the 1919 elections, the first after the Great Alexandru Averescu (the People’s Party) and Ion Union, the two Banat counties elected the highest number of representatives among the counties 3 Radu 2004, 39 – 45. from the provinces that had been newly integrated 4 Vișan-Zaberca 2009, 299; Narai 2004 – 2005, 444. 5 Keats-Rohan 2007, 47 – 48. 7 Pop 2014, 148. 6 Scurtu 1999, 163. 8 Scurtu 1999, 167 – 168. 452 in the Romanian Kingdom in the course of 19189. National Romanian Party led by Vasile Goldiș were The administrative reorganization of Banat as a appointed in these high-level administrative posi- result of the Royal decree no. 284/1925 indirectly tions: in Caraș the jurist Ioan Nedelcu12, in Severin modified the number of representatives to which Romulus Boldea13, with a career in the military, each county was entitled, but did not however and in Timiș-Torontal the jurist Anton Bogdan14. affect the overall number of deputies on a regional In the period preceding the elections they were level. Thus, the county of Timiș-Torontal would intensely active, supervising the printing of voting elect 10 deputies, the county of Severin 6 deputies, sheets, setting the number of voting sections, col- and the county of Caraș 5 deputies. laborating with the military authorities in order to The elections were held in conformity with the ensure the public order during the electoral cam- dispositions of the Electoral Law of March 1926 paigns, and maintaining a permanent connection by which the electoral system of Greater Romania to the central authorities in Bucharest15.