The Lithuanian Popular Peasants' Union (, LVLS) was a centre-left political party in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

between 1922 and 1936. The party's leaders included the third

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Kazys Grinius Kazys Grinius (, 17 December 1866 – 4 June 1950) was the third President of Lithuania, holding the office from 7 June 1926 to 17 December 1926. Previously, he had served as the fifth Prime Minister of Lithuania, from 19 June 1920 until his r ...

and three-term

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Mykolas Sleževičius Mykolas Sleževičius (21 February 1882 – 11 November 1939) was a Lithuanian lawyer, political and cultural figure, and journalist. One of the most influential figures in inter-war Lithuania, he served as the prime minister of Lithuania on thr ...

History

The party was established in November 1922 by a merger of the Lithuanian Popular Socialist Democratic Party and the Peasant Union. At the time the two parties held a combined 19 seats, making it the largest in the

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania (), or simply the Seimas ( ; ), is the unicameralism, unicameral legislative body of the Lithuania, Republic of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of Government of Lithuania, govern ...

. The new party emerged as the largest faction in the 1923 elections, winning 16 of the 78 seats. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1218 The 1926 elections saw the party increase its seat tally to 22, remaining the largest party in the Seimas. From the 1920s, party internationally participated in the International Entente of Radical and Similar Democratic Parties. The LVLS formed a coalition government with the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, but it was overthrown by a military coup in December 1926 which installed the Lithuanian Nationalist Union as the ruling party. The LVLS was banned in 1936.

History

References

Further reading