The 1947 "free elections" in Poland:
- These elections were promised by Stalinat Yalta in 1945
- They only ended up taking place on January 19th 1947
- People were killed/intimidated/deported beforehand
- ~50,000+ people were sent to Siberia before the elections - this contributed to an atmosphere of fear and anxiety
- Large number of censored participants – about 1M voters overall were taken off the vote register
- Quoting Desmond Donnelly in Struggle for the World, "In these appalling circumstances of intimidation, it was not surprising that Beirut's Communists secured complete control in Poland." (Note that Beirut was the Baggage Train leader for Poland.)
- The West considered the elections a complete breach of the conclusions reached at Yalta while the Soviets thought that they were a victory against Western influence
These elections led to a pattern that continued throughout Eastern Europe through the use of salami tactics to reinstate Soviet-trusted leaders or at least establish Moscow-friendly governments.