ABSTRACT
In a real democracy the point of general elections is to afford the population the opportunity to select and elect representatives and to exercise a certain degree of control over the performance of those representatives by virtue of the right not to elect them again. The point of elections in Eastern Europe is completely different. The “accountability election” or “meet the voters” gatherings that are an integral part of the election campaign may not be an example of real democracy as understood in the Western world. In all East European countries the members of the state legislatures are elected in direct, general, and universal elections, citizens of voting age being eligible to vote without any discrimination based on race, religion, creed, or class. The results of the general elections since 1966 show that the number of communist and agrarian representatives does not change much. Until 1969 the Yugoslav elections were identical to those in the other East European countries.
