„With 40 seats in 2020, I don't remember the Liberals and the Freedom Party declaring themselves the government and taking over the post office, the telegraph and bridges. We have discussed candidate donations, of course, but we haven't celebrated the founding yet. Because we respect the voters, who have yet to have the last word,“ the Prime Minister wrote on her Facebook account on Tuesday.
„It is always normal for political peers to take stock of the results after the first round of elections and agree on joint actions. But it is still premature to declare power,“ the Prime Minister said.
The Head of Government did not hide the fact that the coalition that started to form after the first round of elections, consisting of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union, and the Democratic Union Vardan Lietuvos (In the Name of Lithuania), seems strange to her. The parties that make up the coalition have little in common.
„It is difficult to say how this group is „like-minded“ because until recently, they accused each other of being a bigger „ Conservative project“. In general, the centre-left in Lithuania is a rather strange thing – the idea that to be centre-left is not to be a Conservative.
You can be an anti-Semite, a homophobe, a misogynist, a drug dealer, a backpacker, a smuggler, a minimum tax advocate, and you are still a „centre-left“. It is funny that national political science also attaches this label to everyone from the Landowners to the Social Democrats. Because they are not Conservatives, well,“ Šimonytė said.
She stressed that the situation could still change after the second round of the Seimas elections.
„Nothing is clear yet, except that the Social Democrats have gained one more seat in the multi-mandate and have one more seat in the single-mandate. Even who will win by points is unclear. The rest is after that because in the history of Lithuania, there have been all sorts of things,“ the Prime Minister wrote.
„The elections are not over. Come on 27 October (or in advance). There ARE choices“, she added.
ELTA recalls that on Tuesday after a meeting with Ramūnas Karbauskis, Chairman of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė publicly stated that after the Seimas elections the ruling coalition is to be formed from three parties – the Social Democrats, the Democratic Union Vardan Lietuvos (In the Name of Lithuania), and the Lithuanian Peasants' and Greens' Union (LVŽS).
„Even before the elections, we had a meeting with the honourable Ramūnas, as well as with the honourable Saulius. We agreed that if we were successful and received the voters' trust and mandates, we would be the parties that would form a centre-left coalition. This is what happened“, Blinkevičiūtė told journalists after the meeting with Karbauskis.
Blinkevičiūtė assured that a coalition with the Peasants and Social Democrats had already been agreed with the leader of Vardan Lietuvos, Saulius Skvernelis.
Therefore, despite the existing hostility between Karbauskis and Skvernelis, the LSDP leader is convinced that a coalition will be formed.
The first round of the Seimas elections took place on Sunday. According to data from the Chief Election Commission (VRK), the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) received the highest support in the multi-mandate constituency, with 19.36% of the votes. The latter has already secured 18 seats in Seimas. The ruling Conservatives are not far behind with 17 seats. Meanwhile, the third-placed party, Nemuno Aušra (The Dawn of Nemunas), led by Žemaitaitis, has secured 14 seats in the Seimas in the multi-mandate constituency.
Vardan Lietuvos (In the Name of Lithuania) has already won 8 seats in the Seimas, while LVŽS – 6.
However, in two weeks' time, the second round of the Seimas elections will take place to elect members of the Seimas in single-mandate constituencies—eight of them have already won seats in the first round.
