The Coalition of Central Parties within the Constituent Assembly and the Constitution of Lithuania of 1922
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Abstract
The article analyses the importance of the Coalition of central parties, which was active during the period of drafting the Constitution of 1922, and its influence to the content of the Constitution. This Coalition integrated the two top political powers of the Constituent assembly – the Christian Democrats representing the central right position, and the Peasants Populists representing the central left position.
Attitude of the Coalition partners towards the fundamental constitutional principles did not differ substantially. The Christian Democrats who dominated in the Constituent assembly spoke for the parliamentary democracy along with the President of the Republic and the Cabinet of ministers accountable to Seimas. Although the Peasants Populists supported the principal provisions of the left powers striving to make Seimas the sole authority, replacing Government with appropriate parliamentary commissions, and establishing the position of Chairman of Seimas instead of President, they did not object to going into compromise with the Christian democrats. The both sides could not, however, agree on the attitude towards certain fundamental values, i.e. the attitude towards the cross-relationship between the church and the state, and towards the questions concerning education and religion. Constitutional freedom of conscience was a particularly important and sore topic, that the programs of the Christians democrats and of all the left positions suggested to deal with in different ways.
Concerned with retaining the coalition for as long as possible, the Christian democrats made some concessions to the partners during the period of drafting the Constitution. The bill of the future permanent Constitution submitted by the Constitutional Commission to the plenum of the Constituent assembly distinctly reflected the requirements of the left powers. The Christian democrats attempted to postpone the implementation of their ideas and the main battle concerning the implementation of their program provisions to the very end of the project consideration. Only before the enactment of the bill, while the Constituent assembly was finishing its work, the Christian democrats decided to sacrifice the Coalition and used their sole power to adjust the constitutional provisions accordingly, especially with respect to the issues concerning their fundamental values. These adjustments to the draft of the Constitution set off the former partners, and as a result only the Christian democrats voted for the enactment of the Constitution.
The enactment of the Constitution only by the votes of the Christians did not reflect the real attitude towards the Constitution of the fractions within the Constituent Assembly. Referring to the process of preparing and considering the Constitution, the article draws a conclusion that the voting results do not allow to consider the Constitution as the document attributable solely to the Christian democrats. This Constitution was the only one constitutional document considered as permanent Constitutions of Lithuania, which was prepared in collaboration of all the political powers democratically elected to the Constituent assembly. The Constitution was the subject of negotiation and settlement of the Christian Democrats, the Peasants Populists and the Social Democrats. It was the legal act reflecting the balance of interests of the contemporary society.
Attitude of the Coalition partners towards the fundamental constitutional principles did not differ substantially. The Christian Democrats who dominated in the Constituent assembly spoke for the parliamentary democracy along with the President of the Republic and the Cabinet of ministers accountable to Seimas. Although the Peasants Populists supported the principal provisions of the left powers striving to make Seimas the sole authority, replacing Government with appropriate parliamentary commissions, and establishing the position of Chairman of Seimas instead of President, they did not object to going into compromise with the Christian democrats. The both sides could not, however, agree on the attitude towards certain fundamental values, i.e. the attitude towards the cross-relationship between the church and the state, and towards the questions concerning education and religion. Constitutional freedom of conscience was a particularly important and sore topic, that the programs of the Christians democrats and of all the left positions suggested to deal with in different ways.
Concerned with retaining the coalition for as long as possible, the Christian democrats made some concessions to the partners during the period of drafting the Constitution. The bill of the future permanent Constitution submitted by the Constitutional Commission to the plenum of the Constituent assembly distinctly reflected the requirements of the left powers. The Christian democrats attempted to postpone the implementation of their ideas and the main battle concerning the implementation of their program provisions to the very end of the project consideration. Only before the enactment of the bill, while the Constituent assembly was finishing its work, the Christian democrats decided to sacrifice the Coalition and used their sole power to adjust the constitutional provisions accordingly, especially with respect to the issues concerning their fundamental values. These adjustments to the draft of the Constitution set off the former partners, and as a result only the Christian democrats voted for the enactment of the Constitution.
The enactment of the Constitution only by the votes of the Christians did not reflect the real attitude towards the Constitution of the fractions within the Constituent Assembly. Referring to the process of preparing and considering the Constitution, the article draws a conclusion that the voting results do not allow to consider the Constitution as the document attributable solely to the Christian democrats. This Constitution was the only one constitutional document considered as permanent Constitutions of Lithuania, which was prepared in collaboration of all the political powers democratically elected to the Constituent assembly. The Constitution was the subject of negotiation and settlement of the Christian Democrats, the Peasants Populists and the Social Democrats. It was the legal act reflecting the balance of interests of the contemporary society.
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