This article needs to be updated.(November 2024) |
This article lists political parties in Lithuania. Lithuania has a multi-party system with numerous political parties, in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. As of October 2024 [update] , there are 22 active political parties, one party undergoing formal registration, one inactive political party, and four political parties that are in the process of disestablishment registered with the Ministry of Justice. [1]
As of October 2024 [update] , Lithuania has a total of 98,746 people registered as party members and is experiencing a sharp decline in political congregation, [2] with a 9.76% decrease from the start of public membership tracking in 2018. [1] This is at least partially a result of a low trust in political parties with the institution firmly occupying the top-2 least trusted positions in the country, alongside the Seimas, in opinion polls. [3]
There are currently eleven parties represented in the Seimas. The current government is a broad majority coalition of the Homeland Union - Lithuanian Christian Democrats, Liberal Movement and Freedom Party.
As of 2024 [update] , one political party has not submitted the necessary documents to be registered for the upcoming elections, and one political party have not managed to be registered 180 days before them. [1]
Name | Abbr. | Leader [1] | Ideology | Municipal councils | MEPs | Memb. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Together. Left Alliance KArtu. Kairiųjų aljansas | KArtu | Jolanta Bielskienė | Democratic socialism Progressivism | 0 / 1,498 | 0 / 11 | 2,093 [10] [a] | |
Lithuanian List Lietuvos sąrašas | Darius Kuolys | Anti-establishment | 0 / 1,498 | 0 / 11 | 1,970 |
The Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats, also colloquially known as the Conservatives, is a centre-right political party in Lithuania. It has 18,000 members and 28 of 141 seats in the Seimas. Its current interim leader is Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė following the resignation of Gabrielius Landsbergis in 2024 after the party's loss in the election. It is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and the International Democracy Union (IDU).
The Labour Party is a populist centre-left political party in Lithuania. The party was founded in 2003 by the Russian-born millionaire businessman and member of Seimas Viktor Uspaskich.
The Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union is a green-conservative and agrarian political party in Lithuania led by Ramūnas Karbauskis. The party is considered one of the main representatives of the left wing of Lithuanian politics. Lithuanian journalist Virgis Valentinavičius described the party as "the mixture of the extreme left in economic matters and the extreme right in some social issues, all spiced up with an anti-establishment rhetoric of radical change".
This article gives an overview of liberalism in Lithuania. Liberalism was a major force in Lithuania since 1900. Next to the urban citizens, agrarian liberal parties became active. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it isn't necessary so that parties labeled themselves as a liberal party.
Mindaugas Gervaldas is a Lithuanian radical nationalist and a Neo-Nazi. He was a member of the Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces. He has been a member, founder, and chairman of several different Neo-Nazi political parties. Only one party, the National Democratic Party of Lithuania, was officially registered and participated in the 2003 municipal elections. Murza and three others were elected to the council of the Šiauliai City Municipality.
The Lithuanian Nationalist and Republican Union, also known as the Nationalists, was a right-wing nationalist political party in Lithuania. It claimed to be the continuation of the Lithuanian Nationalist Union, the ruling party in 1926–1940. The party was re-established when Lithuania declared independence in 1990 and performed increasingly poorly in the elections. In 2008, it merged with the Homeland Union, but demerged in 2011. In 2017, it merged with the Republican Party. The party promotes traditional family values, advocates for Lithuania's independence from the European Union, opposes immigration.
Presidential elections were held in Lithuania on 22 December 2002 and 5 January 2003. Incumbent President Valdas Adamkus ran for reelection alongside sixteen other candidates, the largest field of presidential candidates in the country's history. Though Adamkus held a large lead over his closest opponent, Rolandas Paksas of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), in the first round of the election, Paksas defeated Adamkus in the second round with 54.71% of the vote.
The National Resurrection Party was a short-lived political party in Lithuania. In the 2008 Lithuanian parliamentary election, it became one of the largest parties in the Tenth Seimas of Lithuania, but quickly lost popularity, disintegrated and merged with the Liberal and Centre Union in 2011.
The People and Justice Union is a right-wing populist political party in Lithuania. It is currently not represented in the Seimas. The chairman of the party is Petras Gražulis. Gražulis was impeached from the Lithuanian parliament in late 2023 and is not allowed, until 2033, to participate in any national elections.
The Christian Party was a centre-right political party in Lithuania. The Christian Party was founded on 23 January 2010 as a merger of the Christian Conservative Social Union and the Lithuanian Party of Christian Democracy.
The Lithuanian People's Party is a minor pro-Russian political party in Lithuania. It describes itself as left-of-centre. It was founded in 2010 as a split from the Lithuanian Peasant Popular Union, and was led by the party's former chairman and the first prime minister of independent Lithuania, Kazimira Prunskienė. It has no representatives on the European, national or municipal level.
Freedom and Justice (Lithuanian: Laisvė ir Teisingumas, PLT), known until 6 June 2020 as the Lithuanian Freedom Union (Liberals) (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Laisvės Sąjunga (Liberalai)), is a conservative-liberal political party in Lithuania. It holds soft eurosceptic views.
The Lithuanian Regions Party, also translated as the Lithuanian Party of Regions, is a political party in Lithuania. It was founded in 2018 as the Social Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania following a split of members from Social Democratic Party of Lithuania after the LSDP's decision to exit a coalition government with the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union in 2017.
Christian Union is a minor political party in Lithuania. It held its constituent congress on 8 February 2020.
The 2024 Lithuanian parliamentary election was held on 13 and 27 October 2024 to elect the 141 members of the Seimas. Parliament members were elected in 71 single-member constituencies using the two-round system, and the remaining 70 in a single nationwide constituency using proportional representation. The first round was held on 13 October and the second round on 27 October.
The Union of Democrats "For Lithuania" is a centre-left and green Lithuanian political party founded on 29 January 2022 by Saulius Skvernelis, former Prime Minister of Lithuania. The party is moderately socially conservative.
Ignas Vėgėlė is a Lithuanian lawyer and right-wing politician who served as president of the Lithuanian Bar Association from 2014 to 2022, as well as president of the Lithuanian Lawyers' Association from 2013 to 2016. He was a member of the right-wing Christian conservative Lithuanian Christian Democrats from 1994 and served as the party's deputy chairman of the board from 2002 to 2004, and as interim chairman of the board from 2004 to 2006. Upon the party's merger with the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats, he became an independent politician.
The Union of the Fighters for Lithuania, previously known as the Union for the President of Lithuania was a minor political party in Lithuania of an eclectic far-right political orientation which was founded in 2011. It replaced the Lithuanian Liberty Union. It did not achieve any notable electoral results and was liquidated by the Central Electoral Commission in 2022 for failing to provide a list of members.
The Political Party "Dawn of Nemunas", often shortened simply as Dawn of Nemunas or Nemunas Dawn, is a populist and nationalist political party in Lithuania. It was founded in November 2023 by Remigijus Žemaitaitis after his expulsion from the Freedom and Justice party due to his antisemitic statements. In June 2024, the party gained representation in the Seimas after three MPs joined; one formerly of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and two formerly of the Labour Party.
The Lithuanian Christian Democracy Party is a right-wing Christian democratic party in Lithuania founded in 2003. It first acquired a Member of the Seimas in 2024, when Mindaugas Puidokas joined the party and was elected as its chairman.