[2] It was the sole permitted participant in the elections; an attempt to include the Democratic Bloc (Demokrātiskais bloks), an alliance of all now-banned Latvian parties except the Social Democratic Workers' Party, on the ballot was suppressed.
[citation needed] As was the case in Estonia and Lithuania, the elections were blatantly rigged, with the Working People’s Bloc winning every seat.
However, Baltic and Western sources maintained that the election was merely an attempt to give legal sanction to the Soviet occupation.
It also noted that the Working People's Bloc was the only grouping allowed to contest the election out of 17 that submitted lists, and accused the bloc of deceiving the people about its intention to make Latvia part of the Soviet Union.
On this basis, the declaration argued that all acts of the People's Saeima, including the request to join the Soviet Union, were ipso facto void.