COSTEA, Simion (2025 conf ZAC), Elites and Counter-Elites in the Fraudulent 1946 Elections in Mureș County, Reflected in Communist Secret Reports / "Elitele și contra-elitele în alegerile fraudate din 1946 în județul Mureș, reflectate în rapoartele secrete comuniste",

COSTEA, Simion (2025 conf ZAC) „Elitele și contra-elitele în alegerile fraudate din 1946 în județul Mureș, reflectate în rapoartele secrete comuniste”, la ZAC - Conferința Națională, Elita transilvană: de la Unire la Regimul comunist (1919-1948), Zilele Academice Clujene, (Ediția XXXVIII, cu participare fizică și on-line), Târgu-Mureș, Joi, 30 octombrie 2025. ProgramICSUGh. SincaiZAC₂025. pdf ; Manifestări Științifice - Institutul de Cercetări Socio-Umane "Gheorghe Șincai" COSTEA, „Elitele și contra-elitele în alegerile fraudate din 1946 în județul Mureș, reflectate în rapoartele secrete comuniste”, la ZAC - Conferința Națională, Elita transilvană: de la Unire la Regimul comunist (1919-1948), Zilele Academice Clujene, (Ediția XXXVIII, cu participare fizică și on-line), Târgu-Mureș, Joi, 30 octombrie 2025. ProgramICSUGh. SincaiZAC₂025. pdf ; Manifestări Științifice - Institutul de Cercetări Socio-Umane "Gheorghe Șincai" Abstract (English) Elites and Counter-Elites in the Fraudulent 1946 Elections in Mureș County, Reflected in Communist Secret Reports: This paper reviews the fraudulent parliamentary elections of November 1946 in Mureș County, focusing on the confrontation between democratic elites of the historical parties and the emerging communist counter-elites. For the first time in Romanian historiography, secret reports produced by the Mureș County Committee of the Romanian Communist Party—addressed to the Central Committee—served as the primary source base for our scholarly articles in 2000. These self-incriminating documents detail how communist activists themselves organized intimidation, manipulated ethnic divisions, falsified vote counts, and employed violence to secure victory. The study highlights how local representatives of the National Peasant Party and the National Liberal Party—such as Emil Dandea, Ioan Bozdog, Alexandru Todea, and Eugen Nicoară—mobilized significant electoral support across both Romanian and Hungarian constituencies. Despite their electoral strength, these elites were ultimately marginalized, their democratic legitimacy nullified by systematic communist fraud. By contrast, the communist counter-elites, previously peripheral, ascended to power with Soviet support (Dr Petru Groza Government in 6 March 1945, fraudulent elections in 1946) and through coercive practices. This case illustrates a forced circulation of elites (Pareto), whereby traditional democratic elites were replaced by cadres loyal to the new totalitarian stalinist regime. The fraudulent elections of 1946 in multi-ethnic Transylvania thus marked not only the collapse of Romania’s democratic tradition but also the decisive moment when communist counter-elites consolidated their domination. Keywords (English) Romania; fraudulent elections; 1946; Mureș County; elites; counter-elites; Communist Party; archival documents; political repression; Transylvanian history