First Seimas of Lithuania was the first parliament (

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (), is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendmen ...

) democratically elected in

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

after it declared independence on February 16, 1918.

History

The elections took place on October 10–11, 1922 to replace the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

, which adopted the final constitution on August 1, 1922. The Seimas elected Aleksandras Stulginskis as the

President of Lithuania The President of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Prezidentas) is the head of state of Lithuania. The officeholder has been Gitanas Nausėda since 12 July 2019. Powers The president has somewhat more executive authority tha ...

and

Ernestas Galvanauskas Ernestas Galvanauskas (20 November 1882 – 24 July 1967) was a Lithuanian engineer, politician and one of the founders of the Peasant Union (which later merged with the Lithuanian Popular Peasants' Union). He also served twice as Prime Minis ...

, as the new

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

, was entrusted to form a new cabinet of ministers. However, no coalition could muster a majority and the Seimas was in a deadlock: Galvanauskas formed two cabinets, and both got 38 votes for and against. As the Seimas could not continue in such manner, it was dissolved on March 12, 1923. New elections were held in May. The Seimas was faced with two major international issues: negotiation over the Vilnius Region and the

Klaipėda Region The Klaipėda Region ( lt, Klaipėdos kraštas) or Memel Territory (german: Memelland or ''Memelgebiet'') was defined by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in 1920 and refers to the northernmost part of the German province of East Prussia, when as ...

. On November 20, 1922 the Seimas authorized Klaipėda Revolt, which started in January. Klaipėda became autonomous region of Lithuania. On March 15, 1923, in part reacting to the January revolt the Conference of Ambassadors confirmed a new demarcation line between Poland and Lithuania and western powers considered Vilnius dispute settled despite Lithuanian protests.

References

* Legal history of Lithuania 1922 in Lithuania 1923 in Lithuania 01 {{lithuania-hist-stub