Forged provisional registry slips used in the elections of 1947: the “blue ballots”

The blue ballots became a symbol of election fraud on various levels. Anyone who knew in advance that they would not be in their constituency on election day and managed to obtain a registry slip issued to their names, thus proving their electoral right, was allowed to use such a slip to cast their vote. The original blue ballots displayed at the exhibition were preserved in the archives of the Hungarian Communist Party. It is likely that these blue ballots were intended to be used against the social democrats. However, every coalition party used blue ballots – even if to a minor extent – which played a great part in the fact that this form of abuse at the election did not have serious repercussions.

The communists had half a million forged registry slips printed for election day and finally used 200,000 of them. The fraud became apparent on the morning of the elections as reports came in from almost every corner of the country. The greatest opposition in the coalition came from the social democrat ministers who ‘went on strike’. The Smallholders’ Party vacillated, while the opposition parties harshly criticised the cheating. However, nobody was ever called to account.