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Election Date: October 12, 2008

At stake: Diet

Background

Lithuania seceded from the Soviet Union in 1991, along with Estonia and Latvia. The largest of the three Baltic states, Lithuania became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in March 2004, and officially joined the European Union (EU) on May 1, 2004.

President Valdas Adamkus oversaw Lithuania’s successful integration with the international community at large.

On Jan. 3, 2003 Rolandas Paksas of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) defeated Adamkus with 54.9 per cent of the vote in a run-off. Paksas would then become the key player in Lithuania’s first major political crisis after reaching independence.

Paksas was accused of having links with Russian mobsters and an investigation into his dealings was ordered. In March 2004, after months of instability and allegations of wrongdoing, a parliamentary commission deemed Paksas a threat to national security, for leaking sensitive information to third parties, mainly Russian businessman Yuri Borisov, who—according to police—had links to organized crime.

The special investigation also stated that some senior officials might have manipulated the privatization of various companies. On Mar. 31, 2004, the Constitutional Court ruled that Paksas violated the law by allowing Borisov to become a Lithuanian citizen.

After the Court’s ruling, Lithuania’s legislature or Diet voted to remove the 47-year-old Paksas from his post after just 14 months in office, approving impeachment procedures in three different matters: leaking sensitive information, offering citizenship to Borisov and the privatization controversy. In April 2004, Paksas was removed from office.

In June 2004, Valdas Adamkus was again elected president in an early ballot. He defeated former prime minister Kazimiera Prunskiene by a small margin. On Jul. 14, Adamkus re-appointed prime minister Algirdas Brazauskas.

Click here for Lithuania’s 2004 Presidential Election Tracker

The October 2004 election to Lithuania’s Diet was marked by a corruption scandal involving several lawmakers.

In July, three Diet members were the focus of wrongdoing allegations. Vytenis Andriukaitis of the Lithuanian Social-Democratic Party (LSDP), Vytautas Kvietkauskas of the New Union - Social-Liberals (NS), and Arvydas Vidziunas of the Homeland Union - Conservatives of Lithuania (TS-LK) were suspended from their posts by the Electoral Commission in late July.

New electoral laws were approved just two months before the legislative ballot. The Diet approved a proposal to stage a two-round parliamentary election. The new law also established that single-seat constituencies must be won by a candidate who garners half of all cast ballots in the first round, if turnout is higher than 40 per cent. If this is not the case, a contender can still claim victory with the support of more than half of all actual voters, provided the number is higher than 20 per cent of all registered voters in the constituency. If neither of these stipulations occurs, a run-off would take place two weeks later.

Final results from the proportional representation election put the Labour Party in first place with 28.46 per cent of all cast ballots and 22 lawmakers, followed by the Algirdas Brazauskas/Arturas Paulauskas "Working for Lithuania" coalition of Social Democrats and Social Liberals with 20.65 per cent and 16 legislators.

Only four of 71 single-seat constituencies were decided. A run-off was held on Oct. 24. Final results gave a loose alliance encompassing the Homeland Union - Conservatives of Lithuania (TS-LK) and the Liberal and Centre Union (LLS-LCS) 43 seats, followed by the Labour Party with 39 lawmakers and the ruling coalition with 31 seats.

On Oct. 28, the Brazauskas/Paulauskas coalition signed an agreement with Uspaskikh’s Labour Party to begin assembling the new cabinet. Brazauskas—who had served as prime minister since 2001—remained in his post.

Click here for Lithuania’s 2004 Diet Election Tracker 

In 2006, Labour—one of the largest parties in the ruling coalition—quit the government. Prime Minister Brazauskas and his entire cabinet resigned on Mar. 31, 2006.

Minister of Finance Zigmantas Balcytis was appointed as caretaker prime minister, but lawmakers did not ratify his mandate. He was replaced by Gediminas Kirkilas on Jul. 4, 2006. Kirkilas is a former member of the Communist Party, former defence minister and long-time member of Lithuania’s Diet. He is currently a member of the Lithuanian Social-Democratic Party (LSDP)

2008 Diet Election

The legislative election is scheduled for Oct. 12.

In early April, Lithuania’s statistics office said that inflation reached an annual rate of 11.3 percent in March, the highest in 11 years.

In mid-April, Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus said in his state of the nation address that Lithuania is going through and institutional crisis and said the public lacks trust in the government. The president admitted that it has failed to implement reforms related to the courts, family policy, and university education

Rasa Junkeviciene, deputy chairman of the opposition Homeland Union - Conservatives of Lithuania (TS-LK) called for the prime minister’s resignation after the state of the nation speech, saying, "If I were the prime minister, after such state of the nation I would either resign or come to the Seimas [the Diet] to check the trust in a secret ballot. This should be the practice in a democratic country because, obviously, the president was very critical of the situation in Lithuania—not only of the past year but also of the past period."

On Apr. 29, Lithuania’s government blocked the signing of a cooperation agreement between the European Union (EU) and Russia over fears that the pact does not prevent Russia from using its energy industry against former Soviet republics for political purposes. Russia and Lithuania have tense relations over energy issues.

On May 8, Lithuanian prime minister Gediminas Kirkilas denied claims by the opposition saying that Lithuania is facing an economic crisis, saying, "Our economy is currently growing at a rather fast rate. We do not have final data for the first quarter yet, but we anticipate a similar growth rate to that we had last year. Inflation is a problem not only for Lithuania and the European Union, it is a global problem. (…) There will be no economic recession in Lithuania. Our industry and our businesses operate really efficiently. There are certain challenges, but I would not call that a crisis. The opposition always sees a crisis. Most probably, there is a crisis in their heads."

On May 8, Lithuania and Latvia ratified the new common body of law for the EU, known as the Lisbon Treaty.

Political Players

President: Valdas Adamkus - LiCS
Prime minister: Gediminas Kirkilas - LSDP

The president is elected to a five-year term by popular vote.

Legislative Branch: The Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas (Diet) has 141 members, elected to four-year terms; 71 members are elected in single-seat constituencies and 70 members are elected by proportional representation.

Results of Last Election:

President - Jun. 13 and Jun. 27, 2004

Diet - Oct. 10 and Oct. 24, 2004

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