 Successive constitutional acts increased the power of the regent, who was empowered to nominate forty senators at first, and during World War II, eighty-seven.In August 1949, with the Hungarian Working People's Party in complete control of the country, a constitution based on the 1936 Soviet Constitution was adopted, the party's leading role enshrined in the document.Its basic features remained in place until 1989, although a number of important amendments were made, including one in 1972 that proclaimed Hungary a socialist state.