On 18 April 1920, elections to Latvia’s Constitutional Assembly concluded — the first universal, equal, direct, secret, and proportional elections for a national representative body in the new state. They were held on 17 and 18 April, and about 85% of eligible citizens took part — an impressive figure for a society only just emerging from war. The elected Constitutional Assembly began work on 1 May, elected Jānis Čakste as its president, and later drafted the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia.

These elections marked the transition from provisional revolutionary state-building to a democratically legitimate parliamentary republic. The Constitutional Assembly strengthened Latvian statehood through the constitution, agrarian reform, the creation of state administration, and efforts toward international recognition.