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otherwise penalized. However, those who chose to remain in the West—over 50,000, by the government's count—had their apartments and private property confiscated.
In late 1970 the authorities in Prague sought to blackmail the exiles living abroad by advising them that they would be prosecuted in absentia for illegally leaving the country and that the "defense costs" incurred as a result of these proceedings would be collected from relatives living in Czechoslovakia if payment was not forthcoming from abroad. Following worldwide criticism, Husak personally terminated the practice as "impractical." The regime's "differentiating" attitude toward Czechoslovak citizens living abroad was underlined in December 1970 by President Svoboda's cordial New Year's greeting to emigres who maintained their "warm attitude" toward socialist Czechoslovakia.
Another amnesty, commemorating the 25th anniversary of Communist rule, was proclaimed by Svoboda in February 1973. Under this edict, emigres who have not engaged in "sedition, jeopardizing state secrets, or causing damage to Czechoslovak interests abroad" could return home forgiven for their "illegal emigration" providing they did so by the end of 1973. That the amnesty excluded the regime's most prominent gadflies abroad was made clear by an official press comment stating that "it may be inferred that the amnesty does not apply to several score intellectuals and former officials of the Czechoslovak Communist Party because of whom the Czechoslovak leadership has encountered fresh difficulties in its relations with some Western Communist parties."
6. Electoral procedures (C)
Czechoslovakia has had extensive experience with free elections dating back to the relatively liberal system under the Austrian Empire and the scrupulous practice of democratic governments during the interwar period. Despite a generation of Communist rule, these democratic traditions are still cherished by the large majority of Czechoslovaks.
In line with the practice in other Eastern European countries where the Communists had gained power, the Czechoslovak party revised the electoral procedures to assure victory at the polls. There may have been non-Communist leaders in Czechoslovakia who hoped that the party—which had won a 38% plurality in the last free national election in 1946—might have been influenced by Czechoslovakia's democratic traditions and that it would be restrained in its exercise of power, but the restrictions the party imposed in 1948 were as rigid as any in the Communist world. The new procedures severely restricted political activity and made it virtually impossible for an individual to stand freely for office, nominate opposition candidates, or campaign on his own initiative.
According to the electoral laws implementing constitutional provisions, the nomination of all political officials was the province only of the political parties and organizations represented in the Communist-dominated National Front. In practice, the National Front put forward only one name for each post to be filled. Thus, the periodic election campaigns were meaningless, reflecting only the extent of Communist Party control over the electoral process. Devices such as semicompulsory "manifest voting" (voting without the secrecy of the booth) and the appointment of party members as election officers gave the Communists control of both the balloting and the counting of votes. These practices, coupled with propaganda and various methods of coercion, insured the success of the specially selected candidates. "Negative" votes generally consist of blank ballots being cast as a symbol of disapproval.
Under the Dubcek regime, far-reaching changes were proposed in the electoral law, mainly in the direction of liberalizing and restricting the role of the Communist Party in the nominating process, in ensuring the secrecy of the ballot, and guaranteeing an honest count. These proposals, as well as the national elections that were scheduled by Dubcek for November 1968 were scuttled by the invasion.
Three years later, the incumbent Husak regime felt sufficiently secure to hold general elections, the first such balloting in Czechoslovakia since June 1964. Husak and other regime spokesmen viewed the elections of 26-27 November 1971 as the culmination of the political consolidation process; the elections, in fact, served to legitimize the Husak regime's hold over the legislature and government executive organs in the preceding May had done for Husak's hold over the Communist hierarchy.
The elections were carried out in much the same manner as those of 1964. The "campaign" was broken down into four phases. First, candidates were nominated by the Communist Party, social organizations, or individual citizens who presented the names to the National Front. The National Front then selected the candidates according to their political and social qualifications as determined by the party, and registered the names on official election lists. Election "programs"—political platforms that the candidates were required to follow—were then drawn up at the
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