Vaps Movement - Constitutional Reform

Constitutional Reform

In an October 1933 referendum on constitutional reform, what was unsuccessfully attempted since 1926, was approved by 72.7 percent of the voters. The organization was banned by Jaan Tõnisson's (who opposed the constitutional reform) government under state of emergency before the referendum, but after this event organization was re-established and became even more radical. The league spearheaded replacement of the parliamentary system with a presidential form of government and laid the groundwork for an April 1934 presidential election, which it expected to win. After the League won absolute majorities in local elections in the three largest cities at the beginning of 1934, but not in the most rural self-governments nor small towns and boroughs, the recently elected constitutional president Konstantin Päts declared a state of emergency in the whole country (in certain parts, this was already in effect since 1918) on March 12, 1934, disbanding the Vaps movement and arresting its leading figures. Konstantin Päts established a moderate regime that the historian Georg von Rauch has called Authoritarian Democracy. In 1935, a National Association was formed to replace political parties and series of state corporate institutions were introduced.

The league was officially banned and finally disbanded in December 1935. On May 6, 1936, 150 members of the league went on trial; 143 of them were convicted and sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment. They were granted an amnesty and freed in 1938, by which time the league had lost most of its popular support. By 1 January 1938, a new constitution took effect and new parliament was elected in February 1938. The new constitution reduced the powers of the presidency.