Third Seimas
| Third Seimas of Lithuania | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||
| Overview | |||||
| Jurisdiction |
 Lithuania
|
||||
| Term | 1926—1927 | ||||
The Third Seimas of Lithuania was the third parliament (Seimas) democratically elected in Lithuania after it declared independence on February 16, 1918. The elections took place on May 8–10, 1926. For the first time the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party were forced to remain in opposition. The coalition government made some unpopular decisions and was sharply criticized. Regular Seimas work was interrupted by a military coup d'état in December 1926 when the democratically elected government was replaced with the authoritarian government of Antanas Smetona and Augustinas Voldemaras. The Third Seimas was dissolved on March 12, 1927 and new elections were not called until 1936.
For the first time since 1920 the Christian Democrats, which strongly supported the Catholic Church and clergy, did not obtain a political majority. Lithuanian people were disillusioned with the party as it was shaken by several financial scandals, did not cope with an economic crisis effectively, and ran into diplomatic disputes with Vatican, which recognized Polish claims to the Vilnius Region.
The Peasant Popular Union and Social Democrats formed a left-wing coalition against the Christian Democrats. Still not enough for a majority, the coalition had to include the minorities (Germans from the Klaipėda Region, Poles, and Jews). On June 7, Kazys Grinius was elected the 3rd President of Lithuania and Mykolas Sleževičius became the Prime Minister. Both of them were members of the Peasant Popular Union.
The new government was sharply attacked by the opposition. It lifted martial law, still in effect in Kaunas and other localities, restored democratic freedoms, and declared broad amnesty to political prisoners. For the first time Lithuania became truly democratic. Communists quickly took advantage of the freedom of speech and held a protest, attended by approximately 400 people, in Kaunas on June 13. The protest was dispersed, but the opposition attacked the government alleging that the incident presented a great threat to Lithuania and its military which the government was incapable of dealing with.
...
Wikipedia