24 MAY 1935, Page 1

The Czech Elections The result of the general election in

Czechoslovakia i3 of European importance. Its outstanding-feature is the success of the recently organized German Nazi party (known technically for electoral purposes as the South German party), which has gained, 75 per cent. of all the German votes cast, and returned .44.inembers to the new Diet, being thus second only to the-Czech Agrarians, who have 45: The population of Czechoslovakia is some 14,000,000, out of whom over 3,000,000 are German- speaking. Politically the racial cleavage has till recently not been sharp, and there have for years been two German Ministers in the Cabinet. But the new Nazi party has organized itself with great efficiency, with abundant funds supplied from an unknown - but not unconjecturable source, and by its success has almost swept the German Social Democrats out of the field. The consequences will be threefold. The Government bloc will probably still be just strong enough to control the. Diet, but the racial division will inevitably be dangerously accentuated. The Pan-German movement in Europe, on which Herr Hitler sets great store, will be given a substantial impetus. And in Austria, where the situation across the border is closely watched, the Nazis will be immensely stimu- lated and the Social Democrats gravely discouraged.