On 5 May 1920, only four days after the first sitting of the Constitutional Assembly in Riga, the newly elected parliament created a 26-member Constitutional Commission led by Marģers Skujenieks. Its task was to draft the fundamental law of the Republic of Latvia – the Satversme – to replace the provisional rules of state order. From this commission’s work came the Satversme adopted on 15 February 1922: a concise, durable core of a democratic republic that again became Latvia’s constitutional foundation after the restoration of independence.
The creation of the Constitutional Commission came as Latvia, after the War of Independence, was moving from provisional authority to an elected democratic state order. The commission’s work helped legally entrench popular sovereignty, parliamentarism, and the republican principle.
Related events
- 1899On 5 May 1899, women workers from Riga’s jute and flax factory went to the governor to complain about abuses against them – an episode in the early history of workers’ protest.
- 1983On 5 May 1983, the full concert staging of Imants Kalniņš’s rock opera “Ei, jūs tur!” premiered – an important event in the fusion of Latvian rock music and theatre.
- 2017On 5 May 2017, marking the centenary of the Latgale Congress, the monument “Latgales kongresam – 100” was unveiled in Rēzekne.