The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia finished first in the 1946 parliamentary election and formed a new government with party leader Klement Gottwald as Prime Minister. The party used its influence to take over the country in a 1948 coup d'etat. The incumbent president Edvard Beneš was unable to resist and resigned on 7 June 1948. In accordance with the 1920 Constitution, Gottwald took over most presidential duties pending the election of a permanent successor.