The first Seimas elections in Lithuania in 1920: what was the electoral system then, how did the illiterate vote? | 15MAX



[ad_1]

At that time, Lithuania, which had no experience in democratic elections yet, had to create the Seimas electoral system from scratch. So there was a lot of weirdness and confusion. However, the elections were successful and the Seimas was elected.

About what the 1920s was like. Elections of the Constituent Seimas, what was its system, how many members of the Seimas were elected, what the ballots were like, and how the voting itself was carried out. 15 minutes said Artūras Svarauskas, Doctor of Humanities and Historian of the Lithuanian Institute of History.

– What was the Constituent Electoral System? How similar and different are the choices compared to today?

– Perhaps the main essential similarity is that in the Constituent Assembly elections the principle was introduced that all Lithuanian citizens, regardless of their social class, gender or denomination, are equal before the law and can vote.

But there are also many fundamental differences. First, how were the elections? I will briefly describe your own course.

Only parties, organizations, businesses and the like could register to vote in the Central Electoral Commission, which has been in operation since 1919. Individuals could not run, as there were now single-member constituencies.

Elections were scheduled to be held in 11 constituencies, and parties could draw up separate lists in each. But in practice, elections were held in only 6 electoral districts; others included territories that the Lithuanian government considered part of Lithuania but did not actually control.

Now the new annual subscribers are getting Gift voucher of 50 EUR.

Read



[ad_2]