The League of Nations mediated the dispute and strongly advocated a plebiscite where the local population would vote to be incorporated either into Poland or Lithuania. However, neither Poland nor Lithuania wanted the vote. Poland had control of the territory and saw no reason to jeopardize the "status quo", especially since it had already lost two plebiscites against Germany (in East Prussia and Upper Silesia). Lithuania did not want to recognize that Poland had a legitimate claim to the region and was afraid to lose the vote, especially if Polish military remained in the region. As both sides stalled, the plebiscite idea was abandoned in March 1921. Poland and Lithuania entered direct negotiations under mediation of Paul Hymans. He prepared two projects that envisioned a Polish–Lithuanian union, but both of them were rejected by Poland and Lithuania by December 1921. In October 1921, after the failure of the negotiations, the Republic of Central Lithuania scheduled elections for 8 January 1922.