4th Saeima was the parliament of

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

from 3 November 1931 until the 15 May

1934 Latvian coup d'état The 1934 Latvian coup d'état () known in Latvia also as the 15 May Coup (''15. maija apvērsums'') or Ulmanis' Coup (''Ulmaņa apvērsums''), was a self-coup by the veteran Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis against the parliamentary system in Lat ...

. It was the last democratically elected Saeima until the restoration of Latvia’s independence in 1991 and the 5th Saeima elections in 1993. Social Democrat

Pauls Kalniņš Pauls Kalniņš (3 March 1872 – 26 August 1945) was a Latvian physician and politician (LSDSP), a long-term Speaker of the Saeima, one of the signatories of the Memorandum of the Latvian Central Council in 17 March 1944, and was the Acting Pre ...

continued to hold the post of

Speaker of the Saeima The Speaker of the Saeima (; literal translation, lit. "Chairperson of the Saeima") is the speaker (politics), presiding officer of the Parliament of Latvia, the Saeima. If the President of Latvia resigns from office, dies or is removed from off ...

to which he was first elected during the

1st Saeima 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- ...

. During November 1933 – May 1934 Saeima discussed proposed Constitutional changes, submitted by Kārlis Ulmanis and his Farmers’ Union, that would reduce number of MPs from 100 to 50, allow for the direct popular election of

State President The State President of the Republic of South Africa () was the head of state of South Africa from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country became a republic on 31 May 1961, outside the Commonwealth of Nations, and Queen Eli ...

and increase his powers. 4th Saeima gave confidence to the 2nd cabinet of Marģers Skujenieks (6 December 1931 – 23 March 1933), cabinet of

Ādolfs Bļodnieks Ādolfs Bļodnieks (24 July 1889 – 21 March 1962) held the office of Prime Minister of Latvia from 24 March 1933 – 16 March 1934, for the New Farmers-Small Landowners Party, New Farmers' Party. Published ...

(24 March 1933 – 16 March 1934) and the 4th cabinet of

Kārlis Ulmanis Kārlis Augusts Vilhelms Ulmanis (; 4 September 1877 – 20 September 1942) was a Latvian politician and a dictator. He was one of the most prominent Latvian politicians of pre-World War II Latvia during the Interwar period of independence from N ...

(17 March 1934 – 15 May 1934).

Elections and Parties

4th Saeima elections were held on 3–4 October 1931 and 80,04% of eligible voters participated. Due to the liberal Elections law, 27 parties and candidates lists were elected to the 100 seats, representing all the political and ethnic interest groups of Latvia. Of the 100 elected MPs, 1 was a woman, 83 were Latvians, 43 had a higher education, 39 had a secondary education, 12 had been educated at people's schools, 3 at military schools, 1 at an agricultural school, 1 at a trade school, and 1 was self-educated.History of Legislature
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Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party The Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party (, LSDSP) is a Social democracy, social-democratic list of political parties in Latvia, political party in Latvia and the second oldest existing Latvian political party after the Latvian Farmers' Uni ...

– 21 seats * Latvian Farmers’ Union – 14 seats * Latgalian Christian Peasant and Catholic Party – 8 seats * New Farmers-Small Landowners Party – 7 seats * Trade Union Workers and Peasants Group – 6 seats * Democratic Centre and Independents union – 6 seats * Latgalian Farmer-Labour Party – 5 seats *

Committee of the German Baltic Parties The Committee of the German-Baltic Parties (, ADP) was an alliance of Baltic German political parties in Latvia during the inter-war period. Its members included the German-Baltic Democratic Party, the German-Baltic Progressive Party, the Ger ...

– 5 seats *

Christian National Union The Christian National Union (, ZChN)Maher (2004), p. 3458 was a Christian-democratic and nationalist political party in Poland. Established on 15 September 1989, the party traced its tradition to the Solidarity movement (both the trade union an ...

– 3 seats * Progressive Union – 3 seats *Party of lost money depositors and other victims – 2 seats * Agudas Israel – 2 seats *The New Farmers' Alliance – 2 seats *Russian Old Believers Working Peoples Party – 2 seats *

United Polish Parties The United Polish Parties (), officially the Educational and Charity Associations of Riga and the Polish Association in Latvia, Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1130 was a political alliance in Latvia for ...

– 2 seats * Russian Orthodox and Old Believers voters and united Russian organizations list – 2 seats *Zionist Mizrahi – 1 seat *Trade Association of Railwaymen, Government Employees, Craftsmen and Workers – 1 seat *Association of Russian Peasants and Russian Public Workers – 1 seat *Union of Christian and Working Peoples – 1 seat *Union of Latgalian Latvians and Land plowers Party – 1 seat *

Labour League of Latvia The Labour League of Latvia () was a political party in Latvia. It existed from 1925 until 1934, when all political parties in Latvia were dissolved following a coup d'état. Its political orientation was centre-left, to the left of the Democrati ...

– 1 seat *

Russian Public Workers' Association The Russian Public Workers' Association was a political group in Latvia during the inter-war period. Primarily representing Russian civil servants of the parishes and counties of Latvia A county () is a geographic region of a country used for ...

– 1 seat *Workers and Poor peasants list – 1 seat * Peace, order and production Union – 1 seat *Riga German Vidzeme list – 1 seat

References

{{reflist Political history of Latvia Saeima