860P.00/290: Telegram
The Chargé in Latvia (Washington) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 12—5:06 p.m.]
187. Legation’s telegrams 178, July 5, 1 p.m. and 185, July 10, 11 a.m.63 According to press announcements, 16 lists of candidates were submitted to the election commission within the period allowed by law but only five were accepted as corresponding to the requirements of the law. These five, one for each election district, are lists submitted by the Latvian Toilers bloc. An announcement of the commission states that ballots will be considered as invalid if the candidates’ names are crossed out or new names are added.
Election propaganda emphasizes the necessity of everybody voting. The abstainers will be marked by the absence of the notations in their passports to the effect that they have cast ballots. The political directors who have been appointed for the Army tell the soldiers that it is their duty to vote with the workers.
The Toilers bloc has issued a list of slogans including one demanding the strengthening of friendship with the Soviet Union and another calling for “complete democratization of the Army.”
An order of the Minister of the Interior “suggests” that all owners of immovable property procure Soviet flags for adorning their houses on future occasions.
- Neither printed.↩