The Democratic Centre (), officially the Democratic Centre and Non-Partisan Public Workers (''Demokrātiskais centrs un bezpartejiskie sabiedriskie darbinieki''),

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1130 was a political party in

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 ...

in the inter-war period.

History

The Democratic Centre was initially established as an alliance of the

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

and the Latvian People's Party prior to the 1922 elections, in which it won six seats, becoming the fourth-largest faction in the first Saeima. In January 1923, the two parties officially merged into the Democratic Centre. The party won five seats in the 1925 elections, becoming the third-largest faction in the 2nd Saeima and entering the coalition formed by party member

Pēteris Juraševskis Pēteris Juraševskis (; 23 March 1872, in Sesava parish – 10 January 1945) held the office of Prime Minister of Latvia from 24 January 1928 – 30 November 1928. He was the Minister of Finance from January 1928 to March 1928. References ...

. The 1928 elections saw the party reduced to three seats, although it recovered to win six seats in the 1931 elections, which included the election of

Berta Pīpiņa Berta Pīpiņa (née Berta Ziemele; 28 September 1883 – 1942) was a Latvian people, Latvian teacher, journalist, politician and women's rights activist. She was the first woman elected to serve in the Saeima although there was six female membe ...

, the first woman elected to serve in the Saeima. In addition, the two first Presidents of Latvia –

Jānis Čakste Jānis Kristaps Čakste (; 14 September 1859 – 14 March 1927) was a Latvian politician and lawyer who served as the first head of an independent Latvian state as the Chairman of the Tautas Padome, People's Council (1918–1920), the Speaker o ...

and

Gustavs Zemgals Gustavs Zemgals (12 August 1871 – 6 January 1939) was a Latvian politician and the second President of Latvia. He also was twice the mayor of Riga. Zemgals was born in Džūkste in the Courland Governorate (now Tukums Municipality, Latvia). H ...

– were party members. The party was dissolved after 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 unofficially refounded underground during the

German occupation of Latvia during World War II The military occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany was completed on 10 July 1941, by Germany's armed forces. Initially, the territory of Latvia was under the military administration of Army Group North, but on 25 July 1941, Latvia was in ...

, and its members were among the main activists of the Latvian Central Council resistance organisation, together with the LSDSP. After the restoration of Latvian independence, the Democratic Center Party of Latvia was founded in the early 1990s and claimed to be the party's ideological successor.

References

Defunct political parties in Latvia Defunct political party alliances in Latvia {{Latvia-party-stub Liberal parties in Latvia

History

See also

References