Elections_in_the_Moldavian_SSR,_1941
An election for a Supreme Soviet took place in Moldavia on January 12, 1941. The poll was an effort to legitimize the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina which had taken place after Romania agreed to evacuate its administration in June 1940. Since 1918 these regions had been annexed by Romania, however the Soviet Union had maintained an active claim. All 266 deputies returned were elected on the common list of the Communist Party of Moldavia (a branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union) and non-partisans. The Supreme Soviet subsequently adopted the 1941 Constitution of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, under which the MSSR was a constituent of the Soviet Union. Soviet control was interrupted by the Axis occupation from June 1941 to 1944.