People's Council of Latvia

{{Short description|Executive council and parliament of Latvia in 1918}}

File:Pirmā Tautas padomes plenārsēde 1918. gada novembrī.jpg (standing), to the right of him: Alberts Kviesis (sitting)]]

{{History of Latvia}}

The People's Council of Latvia ({{langx|lv|Latvijas Tautas padome}}, LTP) was a temporary council which declared Latvia's independence on November 18, 1918 and then acted as the temporary parliament of the country until a Constitutional Assembly was elected.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mk.gov.lv/en/content/history-cabinet-ministers|title=History of the Cabinet of Ministers|date=2014-08-25|website=The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia|language=en|access-date=2019-01-21}}

The People's Council was formed on November 17, 1918 as a result of merging two councils of Latvian organizations: Latvian Provisional National Council ({{langx|lv|Latvijas Pagaidu Nacionālā padome}}, LPNP) and the Democratic Bloc. Originally, the People's Council had 40 members representing all the major Latvian political organizations, except the far right and the far left (communists). It was later expanded to 245 representatives.{{Cite web|url=http://www.saeima.lv/en/about-saeima/history-of-the-legislature|title=History of the legislature|website=Saeima of the Republic of Latvia|access-date=2019-01-21}}

On November 18, 1918, the People's Council declared Latvia an independent country at the now National Theatre of Latvia. It chose Jānis Čakste as the President of the Council and Kārlis Ulmanis as the Prime Minister of the Latvian Provisional Government.{{Cite web|url=http://www.archontology.org/nations/latvia/00_1918_20_tp.php|title=Latvia: Presidents of the People's Council: 1918-1920 - Archontology.org|website=www.archontology.org|access-date=2019-01-21}} The People's Council acted as a temporary parliament of Latvia until May 1, 1920 when the Constitutional Assembly was elected.