Parliamentary Elections in Lithuania: composition of Seimas altered by popular vote

by Nadezhda Lantsova

‘I stand for change!’, - said Dalia Grybauskaite, the President of Lithuania, while casting her ballot in the ballot box. At that time, she still did not know how it would affect the Lithuanian voters. The high level of competition and the desire for change among Lithuanian voters were the factors that determined the rearrangement of Seimas (Parliament  of Lithuania) composition. 60% of voters supported the opposition groups.

Electoral system of Lithuania and composition of Seimas

On Sunday, October 16, the Parliamentary Elections were held in Lithuania. 12 parties, two blocks and 26 independent candidates were competing for 141 seats in Seimas. At the time of closing the polling stations the turnout was 49.9%.

A ballot paper for multi-member constituency contained 14 party-lists. Twelve independent parties ran for election, as well as two coalitions composed of four parties.

MPs are elected for a term of four years. The Republic has mixed electoral system: 71 MPs are elected in single-member constituencies and 70 - in a multi-member constituency. If in most of the single-member constituencies a winner is not identified in the first round, the second round is held on 23 October.  Under the proportional system, the turnout shall be not lower than 25%, in case of majoritarian – no threshold. Under the law, if the turnout is higher than 40% and a candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, he/she is elected in the first round. Otherwise, in two weeks the second round is held, when a candidate who secures a simple majority of electoral votes wins a seat.

To enter the Parliament, a party must pass the 5% threshold, in case of a coalition it is higher - 7%.

October 5 was the first day of early voting in the Lithuanian Parliamentary Elections. 2 million 504 thousand 267 voters have been registered on voter lists, more than 13 thousand of Lithuanian citizens were registered for voting abroad. In Lithuania, on the Election Day, 1996 polling stations in 71 constituencies were open from 07.00 to 20.00. In addition, voters could cast their ballot in all the diplomatic representations of Lithuania abroad.

Results of the first round, the contradiction of opinion polls and exit polls

The exit polls predicted the leadership of Social Democrats in Lithuania.

The election results refuted the opinion polls. According to the Central Election Commission of Lithuania, the winner of the first round of 9 October 2016 Parliamentary Elections was the party ‘Homeland Union - Christian Democrats of Lithuania’ (The Conservatives) led by the young leader, the grandson of the Conservatives patriarch Vytautas Landsbergis, Gabrielius Landsbergis. On the eve of Elections, he refused the MEP mandate. In the multi-member constituency, the Conservatives won 20 seats in the Parliament. 42 Conservatives’ candidates will run in the second round in single-member constituencies.

The ‘peasants’ and the ‘greens’ were left behind the first-round winner in the multi-member constituency with the tiny margin of 0.12%, gaining 19 mandates. More than 40 candidates of the ‘Peasant and Greens Union’ will run in the second round.

In the first round, the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (LSDP) won 13 seats, considered as a total failure. The party leader, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius, has already stated that he takes the responsibility for the defeat. Only 21 LSDP candidates will run in the second round.

The Liberals managed to substantially consolidate its position by winning 9.04% of the vote (8 seats) in the first round. Long before the Elections, the Liberals announced they would be always ready to work only with the Conservatives (from 2008 to 2012, the Liberals and the Conservatives have been the backbone of the ruling coalition in Seimas). In the second round, 12 Liberals will compete for seats against the candidates of other parties, but the Conservatives.

The party ‘Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania’ (EAPL) and the party ‘Order and Justice’ surpassed the 5% threshold, each winning 5 seats. The number of seats could increase after the second round, as 4 candidates from the ‘Order and Justice’ and 2 from EAPL still run for the election.

The most sensational outcome of the first round was a crushing defeat of the ‘Labour Party’ (LP), which did not manage to pass the five percent threshold to enter the Parliament.

Some other parties as well did not manage to pass the threshold.

The preliminary election results were announced on Monday after 11 p.m.

Another 71 MPs will be elected in single-member constituencies. To win in a single-member constituency a candidate needs 50% plus one vote. However, due to highly competitive race in almost all the constituencies, only in five single-member constituencies the winner was decided in the first round. On October 23, the second round will be held in 66 constituencies.

Interactive Voter Map

This year the project ‘Interactive Voter Map’ was launched for the Parliamentary Elections. The system is adapted to collect completed election information. It has information about election results, activity of voters and other data.