The Provincial Assembly was formed by 18 members, 12 of which were elected in an at-large constituency and one third was appointed by the central government in Prague.
The electoral system was simple on the face of it. The entire province acted as a single multi-member constituency elected via proportional representation through the largest remainder system (Hagenbach-Bischoff, I believe). However, parties could - and did - form 'alliances' whereby all their votes were treated as those of a single party for the purpose of allocation of seats.
In Ruthenia, all the parties that contested the election minus the
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) had such alliance agreements.
The alliances were as follows:
(1) The "
Coalition of the Hungarian National Party and the Provincial Christian Socialist Party" (MNP-OKSzP) and the
Autonomous Agrarian Union (AZS).
The MNP and (especially) the OKSzP were the main political vehicles for the Hungarian minority in Czechoslovakia. Although not quite a so-called 'activist' party, the OKSzP was the more moderate of the two. The AZS instead was a Ruthenian nationalist and agrarian party that was widely seen as pro-Budapest, partly as a result of the pro-Hungarian tendencies of the Greek Catholic Church. Budapest financed all three parties.
(2) The "
Coalition of the Russian National Union and the Czechoslovak National Democracy" (RNS-ČsND), the
Carpatho-Russian Labour Party (KST), the
Republican Party of Farmers and Peasants (RSZML), the
Czechoslovaks' Traders Party (ČZOSS), the
Christian People's Party (KNS) and the
Jewish Republican Party (ZRS).
The Czechoslovak National Democracy was the party founded by former Young Czechs and represented the most right-wing Czechoslovak party, a mix of national liberals, conservatives and proto-fascists and was widely seen as the party of big business. The party ran as part of a joint list with the Russian National Union. I don't have much information on them.
The Carpatho-Russian Labour Party was a Narodnik centre-left agrarian party, Russophile and advocating for agrarian socialism. The party was strongly favourable to Eastern Orthodoxy and opposed to the Greek Catholic Church, and as a result, was favourable to Czechoslovakia.
The Republican Party of Farmers and Peasants (RSZML) was the largest party of the republic - which is not saying much. It was centre-to-centre right. A typical agrarian party of the interwar period, although one where large landowners did not have much of an influence. It was the party of land reform, agricultural tariffs, social welfare for the countryside and it stood at the centre of a dense network of rural world associations.
The Czechoslovak Traders' Party was a small centre-right party, a very close ally of the agrarian - they sat as part of the same parliamentary group - and was seen as the voice of the small and medium urban business-owners.
The Christian People's Party was a Ruthenian nationalist, Ukrainophile, agrarian party led by Avgustyn Voloshyn (President of an independent Carpatho-Ukraine for 3 days in 1938).
Lastly, the Jewish Republican Party was a right-wing Jewish minority party led by Orthodox Jewish leaders from Slovakia and Ruthenia opposed to the Zionist agenda of the Jewish Party.
(3) The
Social Democratic Party in Subcarpathian Ruthenia (SDP), the
Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party (ČSDS), the
Czechoslovak National-Socialist Party (ČSNS) and the
Jewish Party in Subcarpathian Ruthenia (ZS).
The Social Democratic Party in Subcarpathian Ruthenia was a Ruthenian autonomist social democratic party with close relations to the Czechoslovak social democrats. The two parties merged in 1930.
The Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party had been originally the largest party in the republic but the party suffered very significantly from the split of its most left-leaning members to the Communist Party. By 1928, the party had recovered somewhat and had again become the largest party of the left, albeit narrowly. In 1928, it was in opposition.
The Czechoslovak National-Socialist Party was not, despite the name, not a Nazi party. Instead, the party represented a sort of non-Marxist socialism that appealed to liberal professionals and other urban centre-left middle-class people. The party was markedly urban and had at one point contained very nationalistic elements. It was the party of Beneš and was reportedly the closest party too to the
Hrad, the 'Castle', or President Masaryk's circle of advisors.
Lastly, the Jewish Party, which was, the largest political party for Jewish people in Czechoslovakia. The party's Zionist agenda reflected better the preferences of the well-off, rather urban Jewish people in Bohemia and Moravia-Silesia than those of the very rural, often Haredi Jews from Slovakia and (especially) Ruthenia.
The election results gave the RSZML 4 seats with 23.11% of the vote, the KSČ came second with 2 seats and 20.10% of the vote, then the coalition of the MNP and the OKSzP came third with 2 seats and 13.50% of the vote, followed by the AZS (10.62%), ZRS (5.89%), ČZOSS (4.72%) and SDP (4.15%) each with one seat.