Klement Gottwald was elected the first Communist president of Czechoslovakia.

[2] The incumbent president Edvard Beneš was unable to resist and resigned on 7 June 1948.

[3] In accordance with the 1920 Constitution, Gottwald took over most presidential duties pending the election of a permanent successor.

When negotiations began, two candidates were proposed–Gottwald and Culture Minister Zdeněk Nejedlý.

It was eventually decided that Gottwald would be nominated in order to legitimate the Communist regime.