IZBORI ZA USTAVOTVORNU SKUPŠTINU U MODRUŠKO-RIJEČKOJ ŽUPANIJI 1920. GODINE

Abstract

The elections for the Constituent Assembly of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1920 may show the political orientation of the voters and the acceptance of the party programs that the parties advocated during the pre-election period and in the work of the assembly. The elections were held in a part of the Modruš-Rijeka district that was not under Italian occupation, which significantly affected the results. Within the constituency, three areas are distinguished. Kordun with a predominantly Serb population votes for unitarian-centralist parties (“Pribićevićs“ and Radicals), and Croats for Croatian and federalist parties (Croatian Republican Peasant Party - CRPP and Party of Rights). It is similar in Gorki Kotar with the Croatian majority. In Primorje, there is a dispersion of votes between the Unitarians and the CRPP, with a smaller share going to the Radicals, the Croatian Popular Party (“clericals“) and the Communists. In the constituency, the Democrats won with 31.65% of the vote, the CRPP won 24.90%, communists 15.81%, and the rightists 12.53%. Three members of the Democrats, three members of the CRPP, one communist and one member of Party of Rights were elected. The Democrats brought together Yugoslav politicians, but not an integral one denied by the “tribes“, but pre-war coastal right-wingers who, in fear of Italian irredentism, wanted a strong state. The CRPP has not been successful in the Littoral, which, under pressure from the regime, can be attributed to a state program that does not suit coastal Croats. Those in the party's struggle against centralism and unitarism in the CRPP see the specter of separatism, which goes against the state as a shield against irredentism.