On 9 April 1930, after a long and tense presidential election, the 3rd Saeima elected Alberts Kviesis as Latvia’s third President. The vote was dramatic: only in the eleventh round did Kviesis gain 55 votes, defeating the Social Democratic candidate Pauls Kalniņš. Two days later, on 11 April, he took the solemn oath of office. Kviesis’s election marked the last presidency of parliamentary Latvia before the authoritarian coup of 1934.

Kviesis’s presidency began during Latvia’s parliamentary republic, when governments changed frequently and parties struggled to form stable agreements. After Kārlis Ulmanis’s coup on 15 May 1934, Kviesis formally remained in office, but the President’s real political influence rapidly diminished.