After forty-five years of Soviet domination, the election was essentially – and predictably – a sanction against the former regime.

A CHANGED LANDSCAPE

What remained of the Communist Party's (MSzMP) former electorate was divided between its two successors: one list, donning a new skin under the Socialist label (MSzP), took 10.89 per cent of the votes in the first round; the other preserved its old name and programme, taking 3.88 per cent, below the 4 per cent mark which would have allowed it to enter Parliament. The Socialist Party's position on the new landscape was consequently modest, with thirty-three deputies in the National Assembly. Attempts to revive the former Social Democratic Party more or less failed, due to the absence of the old leaders and the blunders of their successors. The party did not achieve the 4 per cent mark and has failed so far to re-enter the scene, much to the satisfaction of the MSzP post-Communists who have worn the Socialist label.

Among traditional parties existing prior to the Communist takeover were the Christian Democrats, who obtained twenty-one mandates, and the Smallholders' Party with forty-four parliamentary seats. They joined the overall winner of the election, the Democratic Forum, with 165 mandates out of a total 386. Apart from a small organisation and independent candidates, the remaining votes went to the League of Free Democrats (91) and their allies, the Young Democrats (21).