871.00/10–2346
The Department of State to the British Embassy
Aide-Mémoire
With reference to the British Embassy’s aide-mémoire No. 31/46 of October 16 1946, quoting the text of a note which the British Government propose to transmit to the Rumanian Government in connection with the forthcoming elections in that country and inquiring whether the United States Government is prepared to address an analogous communication to the Rumanian Government, the Department of State has authorized the United States Political Representative in Rumania to deliver a communication along the following lines to the Rumanian Minister for Foreign Affairs when the British [Page 641] Representative receives instructions to present the parallel note suggested in the Embassy’s aide-mémoire:
[Here follows draft text of the proposed note to the Rumanian Foreign Minister.]
In response to the Embassy’s request for comments on the suggested British note, the Embassy will observe that, while the United States note covers the substance of the British approach in its entirety, reference to specific provisions of the Rumanian electoral law which present particular opportunities to deny participation in the election to the Opposition Parties, has been omitted. It is the feeling of the United States Government in this connection, and a similar line was taken in conversations with the Rumanian Foreign Minister in Paris during August, that, although exception can be taken to certain provisions of the electoral law, by and large that statute provides a basis for free and unfettered elections, if its provisions were in fact implemented by the Rumanian Government in a spirit of sincere desire for the full participation therein of all democratic political parties. The United States Government considers it advisable to emphasize the importance of such implementation. Similarly, the United States Government hesitates to suggest particular steps such as those set forth in Paragraph 6 of the British note as essential to the conduct of a free election in Rumania, preferring to base its approach upon a general protest against Rumanian contraventions in respect to its assurances of the freedom to be guaranteed in these elections.