Third Seimas of Lithuania

Third Seimas of Lithuania
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Overview
Legislative body	Seimas
Jurisdiction	Lithuania
Term	1926—1927

The Third Seimas of Lithuania was the third parliament (Seimas) democratically elected in Lithuania after it declared independence on 16 February 1918. The elections took place on 8–10 May 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 12 March 1927 and new elections were not called until 1936.

Elections

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,^[2] did not cope with an economic crisis effectively,^[3] and ran into diplomatic disputes with Vatican, which recognized Polish claims to the Vilnius Region.^[4]

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).^[5] On 7 June 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.

Activities

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.^[3] Communists quickly took advantage of the freedom of speech and held a protest, attended by approximately 400 people, in Kaunas on 13 June. The protest was dispersed,^[2] 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.^[2]

Further allegations of "Bolshevization" were made after Lithuania signed the

Public outcry continued when the government, catering to the minorities, allowed over 80 Polish schools to open at the same time that the Polish government was closing Lithuanian schools in the fiercely contested Vilnius Region.^[4] The coalition government went head-to-head against the Christian Democrats when it proposed the cutting of salaries to the clergy and subsidies to Catholic schools from the 1927 budget. Further enemies were made when 200 conservative military officers were fired.^[6] The military started planning the December coup.

The coup and dissolution

The coup started on 17 December 1926, the 60th birthday of President Kazys Grinius as all important officials gathered in Kaunas for the celebration and before the 1927 budget with cuts to military and church was passed. The Seimas was dispersed and the President was placed under house arrest. Prime Minister Sleževičius resigned, and President Grinius appointed