Constituent Assembly of Lithuania

1920–22 legislature of Lithuania

The Constituent Assembly of Lithuania was the first parliament of the independent state of Lithuania to be elected in a direct, democratic, general, secret election. The Assembly assumed its duties on 15 May 1920 and was disbanded in October 1922.

Following the last Partition of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Lithuania was annexed by and became part of the Russian Empire. On 21 September 1917, Vilnius played host to the Lithuanian Conference which resolved that, to lay the groundwork for the independent Lithuania and regulate its relations with the neighbours, a Constituent Assembly, elected under the principles of democracy by all of its residents, had to be convened in Vilnius. The resolutions of the Conference were to be implemented by an executive body: the Lithuanian Council of 20 members (to become the Council of the State of Lithuania as of 11 July 1918). It was this Council that adopted the Act of Independence on 16 February 1918, stipulating that a Constituent Assembly was to be convened as soon as possible. On 2 November 1918, the Council of the State of Lithuania passed the Fundamental Laws of the Provisional Constitution of the State of Lithuania, which said that the future form of the state of Lithuania would be determined by the Constituent Assembly. The Law on the Election of the Constituent Assembly was adopted on 30 October 1919.

Lithuania was divided into 11 constituencies, of which 5 were not controlled by Lithuanians at the time. The total designated number of mandates was 229, but the Polish controlled Vilnius region and the French controlled Klaipėda region were barred from the elections. The constituencies under Lithuania's control were able to elect 112 representatives, one per population of 15,000. Every citizen aged 21 and above was entitled to vote; the voting age threshold for the military was 17. The paragraph in the Provisional Constitution stating that the Constituent Assembly would gather in Vilnius was amended. The rights and duties of the parties and fines and punishment for the obstruction of the elections, agitation by state officials during work hours, destruction of visual ads and electoral lists, the exercise of coercion or bribery towards voters, agitation out of place and time. The elections took place on 14–15 April 1920. The voter turnout reached about 90%. The voters, both men and women, elected 112 representatives.

The plurality of the votes went to the lists of the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party, securing it 59 seats. The bloc of the Lithuanian Popular Socialist Democratic Party and the Lithuanian Peasants’ Union placed second with 28 mandates. The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania won 13 seats. Ethnic parties won ten seats (six to Democratic Jewish Union, three to the Central Polish Electoral Committee and one to the Lithuanian German Committee). There were two non partisan representatives. Later on, the parliamentary structure would shift. By way of rotation, some representatives would step down to be replaced by new ones. As a result, 150 persons had held a seat at the parliament by the end of the term. Most representatives were very young: 26 of them were aged 30 or under, and only two 12 members of the parliament were 50 or older. Of them, 4 were members of the Jewish faction. The majority of the members of the parliament (37 out of 150) had a college degree, with the group of self taught representatives coming in second (26 out of 150). Seven representatives were graduates of a spiritual academy or a divinity school. The parliament had 8 female representatives. By way of seniority, MP Gabrielė Petkevičaitė–Bitė chaired the solemn inaugural meeting, with Ona Muraškaitė–Račiukaitienė, being the youngest member of the parliament, acting as secretary. It was a major achievement for women at the time. In terms of trade, most members of the parliament were farmers (21). They were followed by teachers (18), officials, co operators, and municipal workers (18), craftsmen and workmen (17), lawyers (13), priests and rabbis (12), military officers (13).

The Assembly cemented the principles of western democracy grounded on the freedom of faith, consciousness, speech, the equality of nations and genders before the law, and the immunity of a person. The expiry of the Constituent Assembly's term marked the end of the national rebirth in Lithuania, the restoration of the state, resulting in the building of a legal foundation for the independent state. In addition to the fundamental laws (the standing Constitution, the land reform, the introduction of the Litas, and the establishment of the university), other areas of life were regulated as well. The country switched to a metric system, Central European time, implemented executive control, and became an active player on the international stage. During the term of the Constituent Assembly, Lithuania received de jure recognition from 16 states.