Constituent Assembly of Lithuania
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Constituent Assembly of Lithuania Steigiamasis Seimas |
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|---|---|
 Lithuania
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| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Established | 1920 |
| Disbanded | 1922 |
| Succeeded by | |
| Seats | 150 |
| Elections | |
| Direct multi-party elections | |
The Constituent Assembly of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Steigiamasis Seimas) was democratically elected in 1920 to draft and adopt the 1922 constitution of Lithuania.
Following the last Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Lithuania was annexed by and became part of the Russian Empire. At the end of World War I, on February 16, 1918, the Council of Lithuania declared Lithuania's independence. The declaration called for the formation of a Constituent Assembly as soon as possible. However, Lithuania remained under German control until the Wilhelmshaven mutiny in the fall 1918. On November 2, 1918 the first draft of the Constitution of Lithuania was adopted. On November 11, the same day as the final armistice treaty ending World War I was signed, the first government of Lithuania was formed and Augustinas Voldemaras became the first prime minister. In December 1918, the Red Army invaded the country, triggering the Freedom Wars. By the end of 1919 the Red Army and the Bermontians were successfully ousted from the territory of Lithuania and the formation of state institutions and infrastructure began.
The law describing the procedures of electing and the powers of the Constituent Assembly was adopted on October 30, 1919. The elections were held only on April 14–15, 1920. The voter turnout reached about 90%. The voters, both men and women, elected 112 representatives. The majority, 59 seats, was taken by Christian democrats. 28 seats were taken by Peasants' Union and socialists, 12 by social democrats, 10 by minorities (Jews, Poles, and Germans). The other 3 representatives were independent. Only 8 representatives were older than 50. Five of the representatives were women. In fact, Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė, a famous Lithuanian female writer, chaired the first session honoring the tradition that before the chair is elected, the oldest member acts as chair. As time passed, 38 members of the assembly resigned and were replaced. So in total there were 150 members of the Constituent Assembly.
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Wikipedia