The Satversme, the Constitution of Latvia, was adopted by the Constitutional Assembly on 15 February 1922 and entered force on 7 November 1922, and it is the oldest still-functioning constitution in Eastern or Central Europe. It was shaped heavily by the Weimar Constitution of Germany and the Federal Constitution of Switzerland, and it now comprises 116 articles in eight chapters establishing the Saeima, or parliament, the president, the Cabinet of Ministers, the courts, and the State Audit Office. Its original text omitted a planned chapter on citizens' rights and obligations, which narrowly failed adoption and was not added until a 1998 amendment. Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 77, establishing Latvia as an independent democratic republic with sovereign power resting in the people, can be amended only by national referendum. The Satversme was suspended after a 1934 coup and formally restored following Latvia's 1990 independence declaration, fully reinstated in 1993.
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