Lithuania goes against the grain: the centre-left wins

Lithuania goes against the grain: the centre-left wins

While most of the EU’s member states are governed by centre-right governments, Lithuania goes against the grain. The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), led by Vilija Blinkeviciute, has won the first legislative elections held in the Baltic country bordering Russia and Belarus since the invasion of Ukraine. In the second round, which took place yesterday (27 October), two million citizens were called to vote, 41.31% of whom, according to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), exercised their right to vote, ten points less than in the first round fifteen days earlier.

In the consultations to renew the 141-seat unicameral parliament, the LSDP obtained 52 seats according to LRT’s projections, with a large advantage over the 28 of the popular Ts-Lkd of Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, currently in government. In third place, with 20 elected representatives, was Nemunas Ausra (Na) or Nemunas Dawn (named after the largest river in Lithuania), a nationalist and Eurosceptic party founded last year by the controversial MP Remigijus Zemaitaitis. The centrist Democratic Union “For Lithuania” (Dsvl) and the Union of Lithuanian Peasants and Greens (Lvzs) obtained 14 and 8 seats respectively, allowing them to comfortably form a government majority with the Social Democrats, while the Liberal Movement, partner of the current government, obtained 12.

“The election result shows that Lithuanian citizens, regardless of where they live – in big cities, small towns or villages – want change, they want a completely different government,” Blinkeviciute said at his party headquarters. The leader said that negotiations to form a government would begin immediately, but did not say whether she would seek the post of prime minister herself or whether another member of her party would do so. According to analysts, an LSDP-led government will veer left on domestic policy compared to the outgoing conservative government, as Blinkeviciute has pledged to raise taxes on the richest and increase social and health spending.

However, it will maintain the strong support for Ukraine that has characterized Lithuania since the Russian invasion and the plan to increase military spending above 3.5% of GDP. In proportional terms, the small Baltic country of just three million inhabitants, bordering the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad to the south and Belarus to the east, is NATO’s sixth largest contributor. Simonyte’s government had lost popularity in recent years due to several political scandals involving some ministers, as well as the sharp increase in inflation and the resulting high cost of living. His handling of the Covid pandemic and the migration crisis on the border with Belarus has also been criticized.