General elections were held in Romania between 1 and 3 March 1922. In the first stage between 1 and 3 March, seats in the Senate were elected. In the second stage between 5 and 7 March the Chamber of Deputies was elected, and in the third and final stage from 9 to 11 March, additional Senate seats were elected.[1] The result was a victory for the governingNational Liberal Party, which won 227 of the 369 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 111 of the 148 seats in the Senate.[2][3] Both houses were combined to form a Constitutional Assembly,[4] which approved the1923 constitution.
In 34 of the 121 constituencies inTransylvania, candidates ran unopposed and were proclaimed elected without an actual poll,[5] mostly because theNational Liberal government refused to register opposition candidates. Overall, the campaign was dominated by the government through what some opposition representative deemed "terror". The National Liberals freely used the administration and theArmy in order to promote its candidates and intimidate the opposition, rejected the registration of many opposition candidates while pressuring others into withdrawing, destroyed opposition publications, forbade or brutally dissolved opposition rallies, arrested candidates and worked to split the vote among the competing opposition parties.[6]
Government pressure continued during election day. According toConstantin Stere, army officers inBessarabia campaigned for the government inside the polling stations and entered voting booths to ensure a vote for the government. According toNicolae Iorga, government agents beat up opposition supporters inFălticeni,Dorohoi andOdobești, prevented whole villages from voting in thePutna County, while inArgeș County the soldiers voted instead of the public. In several places across the country, opposition candidates were prevented from voting. Opposition leaders condemned the abuses of the government, withRomanian National Party leaderIuliu Maniu declaring the elections "a European scandal" and initially refusing to take part in the works of the newly elected Parliament.[6]
