A short-lived unitary parliamentary republic proclaimed 1 February 1946 after the Kingdom of Hungary's monarchy was formally abolished. Initially a genuine multi-party coalition (the Independent Smallholders' Party won 57% in the November 1945 elections), Soviet occupation authorities forced Communist participation in government, and the Communist Party under Mátyás Rákosi used 'salami tactics' to progressively eliminate rival parties through arrests, exile, and intimidation.
By the fraudulent August 1947 elections and the forced 1948 merger of the Social Democrats into the Communist Party, the republic's multi-party character was gutted. A single-list election in May 1949 delivered 95% for the Communist-controlled Independent People's Front, and the Hungarian People's Republic was formally proclaimed on 20 August 1949 under a new Soviet-style constitution.
Covers the 1945-49 coalition period and the Communist 'salami tactics' takeover in accessible detail.