ABSTRACT
In the formation of parties and party systems that has been taking place in the turbulence of the regime change in eastern Europe, parties that derive their identity from the various strands of the European left have either had difficulty in implanting themselves or, where they are already implanted, in determining a strategy. This chapter treats the background of those problems and attempts to provide a perspective on them simply by considering which parties were the winners and which the losers in the early elections. It is in three parts. In the first, three of the major factors influencing the process of transition are briefly examined. The second passes under review the results of the first series of parliamentary elections in the countries treated - Poland, Czechoslovakia (as it then was), Hungary and Bulgaria. The third considers the direction of change since the elections.
