Elections to the People's Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia

Elections to the People's Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia, which took place on October 22, 1939, were an attempt to legitimize the annexation of the Second Polish Republic's eastern territories by the Soviet Union following the September 17 Soviet invasion of Poland in accordance with the secret protocol of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Only one month after these lands were occupied by the Red Army, the Soviet secret police and military led by the Party officials staged the local elections in an atmosphere of state terror.^[1] The referendum was rigged. The ballot envelopes were numbered and often handed over already sealed. By design, the candidates were unknown to their constituencies which were brought to the voting stations by armed militias.^[1] The results were to become the official legitimization of the Soviet takeover of what is known today as the Western Belorussia and the Western Ukraine.^[2] Consequently, both Assemblies voted for incorporation of all formerly Polish voivodeships into the Soviet Union.^[3]