1922 Lithuanian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Lithuania on 10 and 11 October 1922,[1] electing 78 members of the First Seimas. They were the first elections held in Lithuania under the 1922 constitution, which had been adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 1 August 1922.

1922 Lithuanian parliamentary election
Lithuania
← 1920 10–11 October 1922 (1922-10-10 – 1922-10-11) 1923 →

All 78 seats in the Seimas
40 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader % Seats +/–
LKDP Mykolas Krupavičius 17.11 15 −9
Peasant Union Kazys Grinius 16.84 14 −5
Labour Federation Pranas Radzevičius 12.44 11 −4
Farmers' Association Eliziejus Draugelis 12.07 12 −6
LSDP Steponas Kairys 10.42 11 −2
Workers' Group 4.96 5 New
Zionist Group 4.27 3 New
LCRK Kazimierz Janczewski 4.05 1 −2
LDVK 1.35 1 New
LSLDP 1.05 5 −4
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after election
Ernestas Galvanauskas
Independent
Ernestas Galvanauskas
Independent

38 out of 78 seats were won by a bloc of parties led by the Christian Democrats, and they acquired both the positions of President and Prime Minister, occupied by Aleksandras Stulginskis and Ernestas Galvanauskas respectively. In both cases, however, the Christian Democrats were not supported by any party in the opposition and could only form a minority government. Unable to work with such a makeup, the First Seimas was dissolved on 12 March 1923.

Electoral system edit

The law on the conduct of Seimas elections was promulgated by the Constituent Assembly on 19 July 1922, and published in the official newspaper of the government, "Vyriausybės žinios" (Government News) on 27 July 1922.[2] Elections were universal, free and secret, and all citizens of Lithuania, both men and women over 21 years old, were allowed to vote. Citizens 24 years old or older were allowed to stand for election.

The elections were held with party-list proportional representation, in nine multi-member constituencies. In practice, only six of the nine defined constituencies held elections, as Constituencies VII, VIII and IX were allocated to territories occupied by Poland during the Polish–Lithuanian War in 1920.[3] Their centers were Vilnius, Lida and Hrodna respectively. Seats in constituencies were distributed by largest remainder method.

Parties and electoral groups (kuopa) were allowed to submit lists of candidates to constituencies, which had to be signed by at least fifty voters. As such, there was a large number of small electoral lists in every constituency. However, the method of calculating the distribution of seats in each constituency benefited larger parties, as such, the only non-party electoral group which managed to gain seats were lists submitted by the underground Communist Party of Lithuania.

Initially, voting was designed to take place only one day, but several days before the elections law was amended to allow two days of voting (with possibility of a third day of voting).[4] Three days of voting took place in Kelmė.[5]

Competing parties edit

The largest and most active electoral alliance in the election was the Christian Democratic Bloc, formed from the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party and two satellite organizations - Labour Federation, which represented Catholic workers, and Farmers' Association, which represented Catholic peasantry. The Christian Democratic Bloc was strongly supported by the Lithuanian priesthood, which had a strong influence in the agrarian and less literate countryside, and numerous priests were a part of their electoral lists.[6]

However, the Christian Democrats were isolated in the political arena. Historically, LKDP evolved from a different stream of the Lithuanian National Revival than all of their competitors - the Peasant Union, Social Democrats and Party of National Progress (later the Lithuanian Nationalist Union). All of them evolved from the secular nationalist newspaper Varpas, while the Christian Democrats evolved around the Catholic periodical Tėvynės sargas.[7]

The alliance of the Peasant Union and Popular Socialist Party presented itself as socialist and campaigned for the lifting of martial law and secularization. Though the main targets of the criticism were Christian Democrats and National Progress,[8] they were also in opposition to the Social Democrats. The Social Democrats presented their electoral campaign as the first step towards a peaceful socialist revolution and campaigned for a "Seimas of the workers".[9] All political parties supported the land reforms put in place by the Constituent Assembly, and oftentimes argued that their competitors will be the ones to roll back the reform.[10]

Separate electoral lists by the Polish, Jewish and Russian minorities also competed in the election.

Results edit

5
11
5
14
1
1
3
11
12
15
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party138,91217.1115–9
Peasant Union136,71316.8414–5
Labour Federation101,02412.4411–4
Farmers' Association97,97712.0712–6
Social Democratic Party84,64310.4211–2
Workers' Group40,2364.965New
Zionist Group for the Nation and Autonomy34,6974.273New
Central Polish Electoral Committee32,8494.051–2
Achdus16,8412.070New
Party of National Progress14,1311.7400
Group of Workers and Poor Peasants11,7331.440New
Russians and Belarusians11,2891.390New
Group of Polish Workers and Peasants10,9951.351New
Economic and Political Union of Lithuanian Farmers9,4251.1600
Landless and Small Landowners8,5411.050New
Lithuanian Popular Socialist Democratic Party8,5061.055–4
Lithuanian German Committee7,9750.980–1
Union of Evangelical Lutherans7,1380.880New
Land and Freedom5,3160.650New
Union of Working People4,2010.5200
Polish Electors of the First District4,1050.510New
Committee of Jewish People3,9190.480New
Group of Latvians and Germans2,1130.260New
Workers' Labour Union of Marijampolė and Alytus1,4680.180New
Association of Kaunas House Owners1,3720.170New
Dalgis1,1680.140New
Union of Latvians in Lithuania1,1300.140New
Workers Party1,0440.130New
Agriculturalists and Farmers9230.110New
Workers, Small Landowners and Landless of Panevėžys6470.080New
Socialist Day Labourer's Group2470.030New
Polish Group of Prienai1120.010New
Independents10,5971.310–2
Total811,987100.0078–34
Source: Nohlen & Stöver.[1] Lietuvos statistikos metraštis,[11] Ragauskas & Tamošaitis[12]

Aftermath edit

Though the Christian Democratic Bloc achieved a plurality of the seats, they were unable to form a majority coalition, nor did the opposition parties manage to unite against them. The next President and Prime Minister were thus elected via violations of electoral conduct. Protesting against the Christian Democrats, the opposition parties refused to participate in the election of Aleksandras Stulginskis and he was elected solely with Christian Democratic votes. Two governments led by independent politician Ernestas Galvanauskas were formed, but in both cases they were approved with 38 votes in favor and 38 votes against (2 members of the Seimas did not participate), which the opposition criticized as illegal.

The formed government was unstable and the First Seimas was dissolved on 12 March 1923.

References edit

  1. ^ a b Nohlen, Dieter; Stöver, Philip (2010). Elections in Europe: A Data Handbook. Nomos. p. 1201. ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7.
  2. ^ Vyriausybės žinios, 1922, Nr. 98
  3. ^ Vyriausybės žinios, 1922, Nr. 98
  4. ^ "EPaveldas".
  5. ^ "EPaveldas".
  6. ^ Noreikienė, Sigita (1978) Bourgeoisie parties in Seimas elections during the bourgeoisie parliamentary regime in Lithuania 1920-1926. LSSR MA Works, series A, tome IV, p. 76-80
  7. ^ Tamošaitis, Mindaugas (2011) Historiography of Lithuanian political parties and ideological currents in 1918-1940. "Istorija" mokslo darbai, tome 84. http://archyvas.istorijoszurnalas.lt/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=412&Itemid=408 Archived 2021-08-30 at the Wayback Machine [retrieved August 30 2021]
  8. ^ Lietuvos žinios, "Saviors of Lithuania Progress-Farmers Blame Others", 1922 09 10, p. 1-2
  9. ^ Socialdemokratas, "How to prepare for the permanent Seimas", 1922 08 24, p. 2
  10. ^ Lietuva, "In the whirlwind of elections - announcement by the Labour Federation", 1922 10 07, p. 1-2
  11. ^ Lietuvos statistikos metraštis 1924–1926 m. (in Lithuanian). Vol. I. Kaunas: Valstybės spaustuvė. 1927. pp. 72–73.
  12. ^ Ragauskas, Aivas; Tamošaitis, Mindaugas, eds. (2007). Lietuvos Respublikos Seimų I (1922–1923), II (1923–1926), III (1926–1927), IV (1936–1940) narių biografinis žodynas. Didysis Lietuvos parlamentarų biografinis žodynas (in Lithuanian). Vol. 3. Vilniaus pedagoginis universitetas. p. 566. ISBN 978-9955-20-345-2.

Bibliography edit

  • Eidintas, Alfonsas; Vytautas Žalys; Alfred Erich Senn (September 1999). Ed. Edvardas Tuskenis (ed.). Lithuania in European Politics: The Years of the First Republic, 1918-1940 (Paperback ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 44, 85. ISBN 0-312-22458-3.