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Sitting of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, 1922. |
The elections to the First Seimas were held on 10–11 October 1922.
The first sitting convened in the building of the Seimas in Kaunas on 13 November 1922.
The First Seimas had 78 members.
Dr Leonas Bistras served as Speaker of the First Seimas.
The Christian Democratic block secured the largest number of seats in the Seimas, but no party enjoyed a clear majority. This ended the domination of Christian Democrats evident in the Constituent Seimas. The supreme institutions, namely the Presidium of the Seimas and the Cabinet of Ministers, had to be formed by the coalition. A compromise had to be sought during the election of the President. Due to a political rat-race, the work of the First Seimas was unconstructive. Therefore, as the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers failed and the dispute over the legitimacy of the election of the President of the Republic resumed, the Seimas was dissolved by the order signed by President of the Republic Aleksandras Stulginskis and Prime Minister Ernestas Galvanauskas on 12 March 1923 and announced during the sitting of 13 March 1923. The date of the elections to the new Seimas was announced at the same sitting.
ELECTIONS TO THE FIRST SEIMAS
Aleksandras Stulginskis, Interim President of the Republic and Speaker of the Constituent Seimas, announced the date of the elections to the First Seimas on 7 August 1922. The elections to the First Seimas were held on 10–11 October 1922. The Chief Electoral Commission received thrice as many of candidate lists compared to the elections to the Constituent Seimas. The list of the candidates of the Workers’ Company was noteworthy for members of the underground Lithuanian Communist Party hiding under the title. Christian Democrats and Popular Peasants were in the fiercest competition.
COMPOSITION OF THE FIRST SEIMAS
The Seimas convened for the first sitting in the Building of the Seimas in Kaunas on 13 November 1922. It had 78 members. Thirty-eight members of the Seimas were sworn in by Pranciškus Karevičius, Bishop of Samogitia, and the oath of the remaining twenty-nine members was administered by Aleksandras Stulginskis, President of the Republic of Lithuania. The Christian Democratic block won the majority of 38 seats in the Seimas, with 12 seats allocated to the Lithuanian Farmers’ Union, 15 seats to the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party, and 11 seats to the Lithuanian Labour Federation. The block of the Lithuanian Peasants’ Union and the Lithuanian Popular Socialist Democratic Party won 19 seats, with 14 seats taken by the Lithuanian Peasants’ Union and 5 seats won by the Lithuanian Popular Socialist Democratic Party. The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party got 11 seats; Jews won 3 seats, Poles secured 2 seats, and the Workers Company gained 5 seats. The First Seimas included 45 members of the Constituent Seimas, 6 members of the Seimas of Lithuanians in Saint Petersburg and 5 Signatories to the Act of Independence. Three female members were elected; but actually there were four of them in the First Seimas. In contrast to the Constituent Seimas, the First Seimas was predominantly comprised of intellectuals.
PRESIDIUM, POLITICAL GROUPS, AND COMMISSIONS OF THE FIRST SEIMAS
The First Seimas had eight political groups. Disagreements among the political groups began as early as during the first sittings. During the second sitting on 17 November 1922, the results of the elections to the Seimas were the cause of much dispute as national minorities refused to recognise them. In protest, they decided to abstain from the activities of the Seimas. Throughout the legislative period, Poles and Jews took a passive stance and practically refrained from any parliamentary activity. The organisation of standing commissions of the Seimas was a hard task too. Unclear political majority complicated the activities of the Seimas. In some cases, unorderly members of the Seimas had to be expelled from the plenary chamber with the help of the police. The election of the Presidium of the Seimas also posed some difficulties. An interim Presidium of the First Seimas was elected on 21 November 1922 comprising the Speaker Leonas Bistras, First Deputy Speaker Canon Justinas Staugaitis, Secretary with decision-making powers Kazimieras Ambrozaitis, and Secretary with advisory powers Mečys Markauskas. This Presidium was less numerous than provided for by the Statute of the Seimas, since due to political party disagreements, the Seimas failed to elect Second Deputy Speaker, Second Secretary with decision-making powers and Second Secretary with advisory powers. Elected at the 20th sitting on 23 January 1923, the standing Presidium replaced, though basically complimented, the interim Presidium. Dr Leonas Bistras was appointed as Speaker of the Seimas.
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE FIRST SEIMAS
As the major political parties failed to agree among themselves and the negotiations broke down, Aleksandras Stulginskis, from the Lithuanian Farmers’ Union was elected President of the Republic of Lithuania by right parties alone at the sitting of 21 December 1922. The opposition refused to recognise the results of the presidential election. The conflict was caused by different interpretation of the paragraph of the Constitution stipulating that the President of the Republic be elected by the Seimas by an absolute majority of votes in a secret ballot. Despite some political differences in the First Seimas, Lithuania was a fully-fledged state resting on solid foundations with its authorities recognised by foreign states. Most uncertainties remained in connection with the foreign policy. The Klaipėda Region was annexed to Lithuania during the Klaipėda Revolt in January 1923. However, the First Seimas failed in diplomacy over Vilnius. The Conference of Ambassadors of 15 March 1923 officially recognised the Vilnius Region as part of Poland.
References:
Seimas. Seimo sąstatas, Lietuva, 1922 11 11, p. 2.
Seimo rinkimų dienų paskelbimas, Vyriausybės žinios, 1922 08 07, Nr. 101, p. 1.
Seimo stenogramos: 1-asis Seimo posėdis, 1922 11 13, p. 2.
Tamošaitis Mindaugas, I Seimas (1922–1923), Didysis Lietuvos parlamentarų biografinis žodynas, t. 3, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimų I (1922–1923), II (1923–1926), III (1926–1927), IV (1936–1940) narių biografinis žodynas, Vilnius, 2007.
Tamošaitis Mindaugas, I Seimas (1922–1923), Lietuvos Seimo istorija. XX–XXI a. pradžia, Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 2009, p. 108.
Prepared by Vilma Akmenyte-Ruzgienė
