Pauls Kalnins 

(1872-1945)

Speaker of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Saeima. Pauls Kalniņš was born on 3 April 1872 in Vilce. Upon finishing the local primary school, he attended the Liepaja Gymnasium; afterwards he studied natural sciences in Moscow. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Tartu University in 1898. He worked as a physician in Tukums, Jelgava and Riga. He became a member of the editorial board of the newspaper Dienas Lapa (The Daily Paper) in 1897. Together with other members of the Jaunā strāva (New Current) movement, he was arrested and expelled from Latvia. In 1901, Pauls Kalniņš returned to Jelgava and headed the Social Democrats group in Kurzeme. He participated in the revolution of 1905.

Pauls Kalniņš lived in exile in Switzerland from 1903 to 1906. He worked as a physician in Jūrmala from 1906 to 1915. He was a member of the editorial boards of several social democratic newspapers and contributed articles to those publications.

Pauls Kalniņš was an army surgeon during World War I. He became a member of the Riga Workers’ Deputy Council in 1917 and participated in the founding of the Democratic Bloc. Subsequently he became a member of the People’s Council, a member of the Constitutional Assembly, and a member of all the convocations of the pre-war Saeima. After the resignation of Frīdrihs Vesmanis on 20 March 1925, Pauls Kalniņš was elected the Speaker of the Saeima.

He was the chairman of the Central Committee of the Social Democratic Party from 1918 to 1922; he was the chairman of the Culture Foundation from 1925 to 1934. After the 15 May 1934 coup, Pauls Kalniņš spent four months in the Riga Central Prison and under house arrest. From 1942 to 1944 he was a member of the underground Central Committee of the social democrats. Pauls Kalniņš was sent as a delegate to Sweden in 1944, but during the passage in the Baltic Sea he was arrested and taken to Germany. He died in Austria. 

Ceturtdien, 15.maijā
08:30  Saeimas priekšsēdētājas V.E. Daigas Mieriņas tikšanās ar Eiropas Padomes Parlamentārās asamblejas prezidentu Theodoros Rousopoulos
09:00  Saeimas 2025. gada 15. maija kārtējā sēde
09:30  Saeimas priekšsēdētājas biedres Zandas Kalniņas-Lukaševicas un Eiropas Padomes Parlamentārās asamblejas prezidenta Theodoros Rousopoulos preses brīfings
10:30  Sociālo un darba lietu komisijas sēde
10:45  Eiropas Padomes Parlamentārās asamblejas Pārraudzības komitejas vadītājas Zandas Kalniņas-Lukaševicas rīkota komitejas tikšanās ar Latvijas Republikas Satversmes tiesas priekšsēdētāju Irēnu Kucinu un Tieslietu ministrijas parlamentāro sekretāri Laumu Paegļkalnu
12:00  Eiropas Padomes Parlamentārās asamblejas Pārraudzības komitejas vadītājas Zandas Kalniņas-Lukaševicas rīkotais publiskais seminārs “Pilsoniskās sabiedrības noturība un gatavība krīzes situācijām”
12:30  Saeimas Budžeta un finanšu (nodokļu) komisijas priekšsēdētājas Andas Čakšas un komisijas deputātu tikšanās ar Fēru salu parlamenta delegāciju
15:00  Saeimas priekšsēdētājas biedres Zandas Kalniņas-Lukaševicas vadītā Eiropas Padomes Parlamentārās asamblejas Pārraudzības komitejas sēde
17:00  2025.gada 15. maija atbildes sniegšana uz deputātu jautājumu