Lithuanian Christian Democrats
리투아니아 기독민주당
A Lithuanian Christian democratic party originating in the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Union of 1905 and organised as a party in 1917. It took part in every Lithuanian government until 1926, and its leader Aleksandras Stulginskis was president from 1922 to 1926. Revived in 1990, it was reorganised as the Lithuanian Christian Democrats (LKD) in 2001 and merged with the Homeland Union in 2008.
In depth
The Lithuanian source names Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum novarum as the party's main programmatic basis and traces the roots of Lithuanian Christian democracy to the activity of Motiejus Valančius in the mid-nineteenth century. The Lithuanian Christian Democratic Union was founded in November 1905, with a programme drafted by the priests Pranciškus Būčys, Adomas Dambrauskas-Jakštas and Jonas Mačiulis-Maironis, professors at the St Petersburg Theological Academy. Without the support of the church leadership the union ceased to exist in 1906.
The Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party was formed in Russia in March 1917 and in Lithuania in September 1917, and the two groups merged in November. Its programme, adopted on 11 November 1918, was written by Mykolas Krupavičius, Bishop Jurgis Matulevičius and Aleksandras Stulginskis. In 1917–1918 it supported the idea of attaching Lithuania to Germany and invited the Duke of Urach to become king of Lithuania.
Until 1926 it took part in every Lithuanian government and held 59 of 112 seats in the Constituent Seimas, 38 of 78 in the First Seimas, 40 of 78 in the Second and 30 of 85 in the Third. Its leader Stulginskis was president from 1922 to 1926. In 1926 party members, fearing a sudden turn of the country to the left, helped organise the coup of 17 December, but they stayed in power only until April 1927, and the party was banned in 1936. After the Soviet occupation it was active only abroad.
The party resumed activity in Lithuania on 28 January 1990, took part in several coalition governments and became a serious political force in the 1992 election. After repeated splits and mergers it joined the Christian Democratic Union (KDS) on 12 May 2001 and renamed itself the Lithuanian Christian Democrats (LKD). On 17 May 2008 it merged with the Homeland Union to form the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats.