Politics of Lithuania takes place in a framework of a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic, [1] [2] [3] [4] whereby the president of Lithuania is the head of state and the prime minister of Lithuania is the head of government, and of a multi-party system.
Executive power is exercised by the president and the Government, which is headed by the prime minister. Legislative power is vested in both the Government and the unicameral Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament). Judicial power is vested in judges appointed by the president of Lithuania and is independent of executive and legislature power. The judiciary consists of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, and the Court of Appeal as well as the separate administrative courts. The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania established these powers upon its approval on 25 October 1992. Being a multi-party system, the government of Lithuania is not dominated by any single political party, rather it consists of numerous parties that must work with each other to form coalition governments. The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Lithuania a " flawed democracy " in 2022. [5] [ needs update ]
Since Lithuania restored independence on 11 March 1990, it has kept democratic traditions. Drawing from the interwar experiences, politicians made many different proposals that ranged from strong parliamentarism to a presidential republic with checks and balances similar to the United States. Through compromise, a semi-presidential system was settled. [1] In a referendum on 25 October 1992, the first general vote of the people since their declared independence, 56.75% of the total number of voters supported the new constitution. [6]
All major political parties declared their support for Lithuania's membership in NATO and the European Union (EU). Lithuania joined NATO on 29 March 2004. [7] Lithuania joined the EU on 1 May 2004 and Schengen Area on 21 December 2007 and Eurozone on 1 January 2015. [8]
Since 1991, Lithuanian voters have shifted from right to left and back again, swinging between the Conservatives, led by Vytautas Landsbergis, and the (formerly Communist) Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania, led by president Algirdas Brazauskas. During this period, the prime minister was Gediminas Vagnorius.
Valdas Adamkus was the president since 1998. His proposed prime minister was Rolandas Paksas, whose government got off to a rocky start and collapsed within seven months. The alternation between left and right was broken in the October 2000 elections when the Liberal Union and New Union parties won the most votes and were able to form a centrist ruling coalition with minor partners. President Adamkus played a key role in bringing the new centrist parties together. Artūras Paulauskas, the leader of the centre-left New Union (also known as the social-liberal party), became the Chairman of the Seimas. In July 2001, the centre-left New Union party forged an alliance with the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania and formed a new cabinet under former president Algirdas Brazauskas. On 11 April 2006, Artūras Paulauskas was removed from his position and Viktoras Muntianas was elected Chairman of the Seimas. [9]
The cabinet of Algirdas Brazauskas resigned on 31 May 2006, as President Valdas Adamkus expressed no confidence in two of the Ministers, formerly party colleagues of Brazauskas, over ethical principles. Brazauskas decided not to remain in office as acting prime minister, and announced that he was finally retiring from politics. [10] Even so, he led the ruling Social Democratic Party of Lithuania for one more year, until 19 May 2007, when he passed the reins to Gediminas Kirkilas. On 27 November 2008, Andrius Kubilius of conservative Homeland Union was appointed as a prime minister. [11] In December 2012 Andrius Kubilius was succeeded by Algirdas Butkevičius after his Social Democratic Party became the biggest party in parliamentary elections. [12]
In 2016, The Peasant and Green's Union (LGPU) won parliamentary elections. It secured 54 seats in the 141-member parliament (Seimas), making a previously small centrist agrarian party the biggest in parliament. The conservative Homeland Union won 30 seats. The ruling Social Democrats, led by Lithuania's Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevciu, lost heavily and secured just 17 seats. [13] On 22 November 2016, Saulius Skvernelis of the Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union, became new prime minister. [14]
In October 2020, conservative opposition Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) won parliamentary elections with 50 seats. Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis' Union of Farmers and Greens came a distant second with just 32 seats. [15] In November 2020, Ingrida Šimonytė became new prime minister, after forming a centre-right coalition government of her TS-LKD and two liberal parties. [16]
Government in Lithuania is made up of three branches originally envisioned by enlightenment philosopher Baron de Montesquieu: executive, legislative, and judicial. Each branch is separate and is set up to do checks and balances on each other branch.
The executive branch of the Lithuanian government consists of a president, a prime minister, and the president's Council of Ministers. It is in charge of running the government.
The president of Lithuania is the head of state of the country, elected directly for a five-year term and can serve maximum of two terms consecutively. Presidential elections take place in a modified version of the two-round system. If half of voters participate, a candidate must win a majority of the total valid vote in order to win election in the first round. If fewer than half of voters participate, a candidate can win outright with a plurality and at least one third of the total vote. If the first round does not produce a president, a runoff is held between the top two finishers in the first round, with a plurality sufficient to win.
The president, with the approval of the Seimas, is first responsible of appointing the prime minister. Upon the prime minister's nomination, the president also appoints, under the recommendation of the prime minister, the Council of Ministers (13 ministries), as well as a number of other top civil servants and the judges for all courts. The president also serves as the commander-in-chief, oversees foreign and security policy, addresses political problems of foreign and domestic affairs, proclaims states of emergency, considers the laws adopted by the Seimas, and performs other duties specified in the Constitution. [17] Lithuanian presidents have somewhat greater power than their counterparts in Estonia and Latvia, but have more influence in foreign policy than domestic policy. [18]
Former president Rolandas Paksas, who had defeated Adamkus in 2003, was impeached in April 2004 for leaking classified information. [19]
Dalia Grybauskaitė, the first female president, served as the president of Lithuania since July 2009 until 2019, winning a reelection bid in 2014. Grybauskaitė succeeded Valdas Adamkus who had served a total of two non-consecutive terms. [20]
In 2019, Gitanas Nauseda won Lithuania's presidential runoff election after his opponent Ingrida Šimonytė conceded. [21]
The prime minister of Lithuania is the head of government of the country, appointed by the president and approved by the Seimas. The prime minister, within 15 days of being appointed, is responsible for choosing ministers for the president to approve to each of the 13 ministries. In general, the prime minister is in charge of the affairs of the country, maintains homeland security, carries out laws and resolutions of the Seimas and decrees of the president, maintains diplomatic relations with foreign countries and international organizations, and performs other duties specified in the Constitution. [17] In practice, the prime minister is mostly responsible for domestic policy, while the president mostly handles foreign policy.
Similar to the cabinet of other nations, the Council of Ministers consists of 13 ministers chosen by the prime minister and appointed by the president. Each minister is responsible for his or her own ministry of the Lithuanian government and must give reports on his or her ministry when directed to. [22] When the prime minister resigns or dies, the position is to be filled as soon as possible and the new leader will appoint a new government.
Office | Name | Party | Since |
---|---|---|---|
President | Gitanas Nausėda | Independent | 12 July 2019 |
Prime Minister | Ingrida Šimonytė | Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats | 11 December 2020 |
The parliament (Seimas) has 141 members that are elected for a 4-year term. About half of the members are elected in single-member districts (71), and the other half (70) are elected in the nationwide vote using proportional representation by party lists. A party must receive at least 5% of the national vote to be represented in the Seimas.
Candidate | Party | First round | Second round | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | ||
Ingrida Šimonytė | Independent | 442,353 | 31.43 | 437,399 | 33.28 |
Gitanas Nausėda | Independent | 438,469 | 31.16 | 876,749 | 66.72 |
Saulius Skvernelis | Independent | 278,680 | 19.80 | ||
Vytenis Andriukaitis | Social Democratic Party of Lithuania | 67,802 | 4.82 | ||
Arvydas Juozaitis | Independent | 66,535 | 4.73 | ||
Valdemar Tomaševski | Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania | 56,411 | 4.01 | ||
Mindaugas Puidokas | Independent | 36,645 | 2.60 | ||
Naglis Puteikis | Lithuanian Centre Party | 11,214 | 0.80 | ||
Valentinas Mazuronis | Independent | 9,169 | 0.65 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 9,905 | – | 17,097 | – | |
Total | 1,417,183 | 100 | 1,314,148 | 100 | |
Registered voters/turnout | 2,486,915 | 56.99 | 2,491,021 | 53.44 | |
Source: VRK, VRK |
Party | Proportional | Constituency (first round) | Constituency (second round) | Total seats | +/– | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | ||||
Homeland Union | 292,124 | 25.77 | 23 | 268,919 | 24.16 | 1 | 356,599 | 40.17 | 26 | 50 | +19 | |
Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union | 204,791 | 18.07 | 16 | 169,370 | 15.22 | 0 | 209,718 | 23.62 | 16 | 32 | −22 | |
Labour Party | 110,773 | 9.77 | 9 | 88,408 | 7.94 | 0 | 8,077 | 0.91 | 1 | 10 | +8 | |
Social Democratic Party of Lithuania | 108,649 | 9.58 | 8 | 130,851 | 11.76 | 0 | 75,561 | 8.51 | 5 | 13 | −4 | |
Freedom Party | 107,093 | 9.45 | 8 | 72,046 | 6.47 | 0 | 72,288 | 8.14 | 3 | 11 | New | |
Liberal Movement | 79,755 | 7.04 | 6 | 103,238 | 9.28 | 0 | 60,841 | 6.85 | 7 | 13 | −1 | |
Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania | 56,386 | 4.97 | 0 | 53,007 | 4.76 | 2 | 14,837 | 1.67 | 1 | 3 | −5 | |
Social Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania | 37,197 | 3.28 | 0 | 51,923 | 4.67 | 0 | 26,199 | 2.95 | 3 | 3 | New | |
Centre Party – Nationalists | 26,769 | 2.36 | 0 | 20,468 | 1.84 | 0 | 5,405 | 0.61 | 0 | 0 | −1 | |
National Alliance | 25,098 | 2.21 | 0 | 14,938 | 1.34 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
Freedom and Justice | 23,355 | 2.06 | 0 | 28,641 | 2.57 | 0 | 9,631 | 1.08 | 1 | 1 | New | |
Lithuanian Green Party | 19,303 | 1.70 | 0 | 35,205 | 3.16 | 0 | 6,648 | 0.75 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
The Way of Courage | 13,337 | 1.18 | 0 | 2,573 | 0.23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
Lithuania – For Everyone | 11,352 | 1.00 | 0 | 7,917 | 0.71 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
Christian Union | 8,825 | 0.78 | 0 | 17,433 | 1.57 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
Union of Intergenerational Solidarity – Cohesion for Lithuania | 5,808 | 0.51 | 0 | 2,753 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
Lithuanian People's Party | 2,946 | 0.26 | 0 | 1,087 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
Lithuanian List | 1,043 | 0.09 | 0 | 0 | –1 | |||||||
Independents | 43,083 | 3.87 | 0 | 41,938 | 4.72 | 4 | 4 | 0 | ||||
Total | 1,133,561 | 100.00 | 70 | 1,112,903 | 100.00 | 3 | 887,742 | 100.00 | 68 | 141 | 0 | |
Valid votes | 1,133,561 | 96.47 | 1,112,903 | 94.74 | 887,742 | 96.03 | ||||||
Invalid/blank votes | 41,465 | 3.53 | 61,822 | 5.26 | 36,667 | 3.97 | ||||||
Total votes | 1,175,026 | 100.00 | 1,174,725 | 100.00 | 924,409 | 100.00 | ||||||
Registered voters/turnout | 2,457,722 | 47.81 | 2,457,722 | 47.80 | 2,355,726 | 39.24 | ||||||
Source: VRK |
Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Homeland Union | 245,918 | 18.60 | 3 | |
Social Democratic Party of Lithuania | 199,217 | 17.26 | 2 | |
Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union | 157,604 | 11.92 | 2 | |
Labour Party | 112,964 | 8.54 | 1 | |
Liberal Movement | 81,916 | 6.20 | 1 | |
Public election committee "Aušra Maldeikienė's Train" | 80,703 | 6.10 | 1 | |
"Waldemar Tomaszewski Block" - Coalition of Christian Families Alliance and Lithuanian Russian Union | 69,263 | 5.24 | 1 | |
Lithuanian Centre Party | 64,091 | 4.85 | 0 | |
Public election committee "President Rolandas Paksas' Movement" | 50,130 | 3.79 | 0 | |
Public election committee "Vytautas Radžvilas: Recover the State!" | 41,860 | 3.17 | 0 | |
Order and Justice | 34,298 | 2.59 | 0 | |
Social Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania | 29,592 | 2.24 | 0 | |
Lithuanian Green Party | 28,126 | 2.13 | 0 | |
Lithuanian Freedom Union (Liberals) | 23,829 | 1.80 | 0 | |
Public election committee "Strong Lithuania in United Europe" | 16,671 | 1.26 | 0 | |
Public election committee "Decisive Leap" | 16,671 | 1.07 | 0 | |
Total | 1,250,377 | 100.00 | 11 |
The judges of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas) for a single nine-year term are appointed by the Seimas from the candidates presented by the President (three judges), Chairman of Seimas (three judges) and the chairman of the Supreme Court (three judges).
Lithuania has a three-tier administrative division: the country is divided into 10 counties (Lithuanian: singular – apskritis, plural – apskritys) that are further subdivided into 60 municipalities (Lithuanian: singular – savivaldybė, plural – savivaldybės) which consist of over 500 elderships (Lithuanian: singular – seniūnija, plural – seniūnijos).
The county governors (Lithuanian: apskrities viršininkas) institution and county administrations have been dissolved in 2010. [23]
Municipalities are the most important administrative unit. Some municipalities are historically called "district municipalities", and thus are often shortened to "district"; others are called "city municipalities", sometimes shortened to "city". Each municipality has its own elected government. In the past, the election of municipality councils occurred once every three years, but it now takes place every four years. The council appoints elders to govern the elderships. Mayors are elected directly since 2015, being appointed by the council before that. [24]
Rolandas Paksas is a Lithuanian politician who served as the sixth president of Lithuania from 2003 until his impeachment in April 2004. He previously served two terms as the prime minister of Lithuania in 1999, and again from 2000 to 2001, and as Mayor of Vilnius from 1997 to 1999 and again from 2000 to 2001. He led Order and Justice from 2004 to 2016 and was a Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2019.
Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas was a Lithuanian politician who served as the fourth president of Lithuania from 1993 to 1998. He also served as the prime minister of Lithuania from 2001 to 2006. Brazauskas was the first democratically elected president of post-Soviet Lithuania.
Artūras Paulauskas is a Lithuanian politician. He was the Speaker of Seimas, the parliament of Lithuania, from 2000 to 2006, and he served as Acting President of Lithuania from 6 April 2004 to 12 July 2004.
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).
Elections in Lithuania are held to select members of the parliament, the president, members of the municipal councils and mayors, as well as delegates to the European Parliament. Lithuanian citizens can also vote in mandatory or consultative referendums.
Parliamentary elections were held in Lithuania on 10 October 2004, with a second round on 24 October 2004 in the constituencies where no candidate won a majority in the first round of voting. All 141 seats in the Seimas were up for election; 71 in single-seat constituencies elected by majority vote and the remaining 70 in a nationwide constituency based on proportional representation.
Parliamentary elections were held in Lithuania on 12 October 2008, with a second round on 26 October in the constituencies where no candidate won a majority in the first round of voting. All 141 seats in the Seimas were up for election; 71 in single-seat constituencies elected by majority vote and the remaining 70 in a nationwide constituency based on proportional representation. Together with the elections, a referendum on extending the operation of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant was held.
The Government of Lithuania, officially the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (GRL), is the cabinet of and exercising executive power in Lithuania. Among other responsibilities, it executes laws and resolutions of the parliament, the Seimas, and the decrees of the President, manages state property and, together with the president, executes the foreign policy of the country. The Government also has the right of legislative initiative, puts together the state budget and presents it to the Seimas for approval.
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.
Parliamentary elections were held in Lithuania on 8 October 2000. All 141 seats in the Seimas were up for election, 71 of them in single-seat constituencies based on first-past-the-post voting; the remaining 70, in a nationwide constituency based on proportional representation. Altogether, around 700 candidates competed in the single-seat constituencies, while over 1,100 candidates were included in the electoral lists for the nationwide constituency.
Presidential elections were held in Lithuania in December 1997 and January 1998. Artūras Paulauskas finished first in the first round on 21 December 1997 with a significant margin, with Valdas Adamkus finishing second, but neither received a majority of the vote. Adamkus defeated Paulauskas in the runoff, held on 4 January 1998. With a vote difference of 0.74%, it is the closest result in the history of presidential elections in Lithuania since 1993.
Parliamentary elections were held in Lithuania on 14 October 2012, with a second round on 28 October in the constituencies where no candidate won a majority in the first round of voting. All 141 seats in the Seimas were up for election; 71 in single-seat constituencies elected by majority vote and the remaining 70 in a nationwide constituency based on proportional representation. Together with the elections, a referendum on the construction of a new nuclear power plant was held.
Raimondas Šukys is a Lithuanian lawyer and politician. He served as Interior Minister from 2006 to 2007, and Minister of Health from 2010 to 2012.
Kirkilas Cabinet was the 14th cabinet of Lithuania since 1990. It consisted of the Prime Minister and 13 government ministers from the Social Democratic Party, Lithuanian Peasant Popular Union, Civic Democratic Party, and the Liberal and Centre Union. The minority government survived due to confidence and supply from the Homeland Union. The New Union joined the coalition in 2008, making it a majority government..
The Second Brazauskas Cabinet was the 13th cabinet of Lithuania since 1990. It consisted of the Prime Minister and 13 government ministers.
The First Brazauskas Cabinet was the 12th cabinet of Lithuania since 1990. It consisted of the Prime Minister and 13 government ministers.
The Second Paksas Cabinet was the 11th cabinet of Lithuania since 1990. It consisted of the Prime Minister and 13 government ministers.
The First Kubilius Cabinet was the 10th cabinet of Lithuania since 1990. It consisted of the Prime Minister and 14 government ministers.
The First Paksas Cabinet was the 9th cabinet of Lithuania since 1990. It consisted of the Prime Minister and 14 government ministers.
The Lithuanian order of precedence is a nominal and symbolic hierarchy of important positions within the Government of Lithuania. Administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the hierarchy does not determine the order of succession for the office of President of the Republic of Lithuania, which is instead specified by the Constitution of Lithuania.
Duhamel has developed the approach further: He stresses that the French construction does not correspond to either parliamentary or the presidential form of government, and then develops the distinction of 'système politique' and 'régime constitutionnel'. While the former comprises the exercise of power that results from the dominant institutional practice, the latter is the totality of the rules for the dominant institutional practice of the power. In this way, France appears as 'presidentialist system' endowed with a 'semi-presidential regime' (1983: 587). By this standard he recognizes Duverger's pléiade as semi-presidential regimes, as well as Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Lithuania (1993: 87).
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(help)A pattern similar to the French case of compatible majorities alternating with periods of cohabitation emerged in Lithuania, where Talat-Kelpsa (2001) notes that the ability of the Lithuanian president to influence government formation and policy declined abruptly when he lost the sympathetic majority in parliament.