1st Saeima

First Saeima of the Republic of Latvia

1. Latvijas Republikas Saeima
First Saeima of the Republic of Latvia ; 1. Latvijas Republikas Saeima
History
Preceded by	Constitutional Assembly of Latvia
Succeeded by	2nd Saeima
Leadership
Speaker of the Saeima	Frīdrihs Vesmanis (until 17 March 1925) ; Pauls Kalniņš (from 20 March 1925)
Structure

The 1st Saeima was the parliament of Latvia from 7 November 1922 until 2 November 1925. It was the first Saeima to be elected after the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia had created the Constitution of Latvia and the Elections Law.

Social-Democrat Frīdrihs Vesmanis was Speaker of the Saeima until 17 March 1925 followed by Social Democrat Pauls Kalniņš.

The 1st Saeima gave confidence to the 1st cabinet of Zigfrīds Anna Meierovics (20 July 1922 – 26 January 1923), cabinet of Jānis Pauļuks (27 January 1923 – 27 June 1923), 2nd cabinet of Meierovics (28 June 1923 – 26 January 1924), cabinet of Voldemārs Zāmuēls (25 January 1924 – 17 December 1924) and the 1st cabinet of Hugo Celmiņš (19 December 1924 – 23 December 1925).

Elections and parties

1st Saeima elections were held on 7–8 October 1922 and 82,2% (800,840 people) of eligible voters participated. Due to the liberal Elections law, 20 parties were elected to the 100 seats, representing all the political and ethnic interest groups of Latvia. Of the 100 MPs, 84 were Latvians, 62 had a higher education, 22 had a secondary education, 7 had graduated from teacher training colleges and 9 had a primary education.^[1]

Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party – 30 seats
Latvian Farmers’ Union – 17 seats
Union of Social Democrats – Mensheviks and Rural Workers – 7 seats
Democratic Centre and Independents Union – 6 seats
Latgalian Christian Peasant and Catholic Party – 6 seats
Committee of the German Baltic Parties – 6 seats
Non-Partisan National Center – 4 seats
Christian National Union – 4 seats
Latgalian Farmer-Labour Party – 4 seats
New Farmers' Union– 3 seats
United List of Russians – 2 seats
Agudas Israel – 2 seats
Jewish National Bloc– 2 seats
Latgalian People's Party – 1 seat
Latgalian Farmers Party – 1 seat
List of Lithuanians and Catholics – 1 seat
Old Believers Central Committee – 1 seat
Ceire Cion – 1 seat
Latvia’s Jewish socialdemocratic workers party Bund – 1 seat
United Polish Parties – 1 seat

List of Saeima deputies

First Saeima deputies list.^[2]

References

^ History of the legislature
^ "Saeimas Stenogrammas, Nr.1 (07.11.1922)". Latvian National Digital Library (LNDL). Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2021.

[1] History of the legislature

[2] "Saeimas Stenogrammas, Nr.1 (07.11.1922)". Latvian National Digital Library (LNDL). Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2021.

[1]

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