Lithuania’s Social Democratic Party on Sunday won it first parliamentary elections in 12 years as voters turned to the opposition to address soaring disparities in the Baltic nation.
Social Democrats received 19.4 percent of the vote, putting the party in pole position to form the next government, with the ruling conservatives from the Homeland Union a close second at 18 percent, the final results showed.
The first round of voting showed the opposition has successfully tapped into rising discontent among the voters living outside relatively affluent cities like the capital, Vilnius, who have seen their incomes, pensions and social benefits eroded by a period of double-digit inflation.
Photo: Reuters
Income inequality in Lithuania, a country of 2.8 million wedged between Belarus and the Baltic Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, is the second-highest in the EU.
The anti-establishment mood has fueled the rise of an upstart party, the Dawn of Nemunas, whose leader is on trial for making anti-Semitic remarks in his criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza. The party came in third with 15 percent of the vote.
The Social Democrats have pledged to keep the Dawn of Nemunas under Remigijus Zemaitaitis out of potential coalition talks. However, his party might still emerge as a kingmaker, further complicating the Social Democrats’ task as it cobbles together a majority in a fragmented parliament. A total of six parties entered the legislature.
A return to power for the Social Democrats could see Vilija Blinkeviciute, a former social affairs minister, become the prime minister. Currently a lawmaker in the European Parliament, the 64-year-old is credited with raising pensions during her stint in government from 2000 to 2008.
Blinkeviciute said she sees her party building a ruling majority with two other center-left leaning partners of Union of Democrats “For Lithuania” and Lithuania’s Farmers and Greens.
Still, the plans might be complicated by personal animosity between the leaders of the two junior parties that vowed not to work together ahead of the election.
The shift in the political landscape should become clearer after Lithuanians return to choose the remaining half of the country’s legislators in a second round of elections on Oct. 27.
“We still have serious work to do in the second round and we hope for a truly good result,” Blinkeviciute said yesterday. “We hope that after consolidating results in the second round it will be enough to form a coalition of three parties.”
The change of guard is unlikely to affect Lithuania’s position as one of the most vocal critics of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Parties generally agree that the country needs to increase defense spending, currently at 3.2 percent of economic output, to prevent Moscow from potentially challenging NATO borders.
Conflicting demands might leave the next government with some hard fiscal choices. Low pensions and limited coverage of social benefits have driven up poverty and income inequality, the European Commission said in a June report.
The Social Democrats in power could also strengthen Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, who was elected for a second term earlier this year and has had frosty relations with the Homeland Union leader, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis.
FAKE NEWS? ‘When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong,’ a civic group said The top US broadcast regulator on Saturday threatened media outlets over negative coverage of the Middle East war, after US President Donald Trump slammed critical headlines from the “Fake News Media.” The US president since his first term has derided mainstream media as “fake news” and has sued major outlets over what he sees as unfair coverage. Brendan Carr, head of the US Federal Communications Commission — which oversees the nation’s radio, television and Internet media — said broadcasters risked losing their licenses over news coverage. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will
INFLUTENTIAL THEORIST: Habermas was particularly critical of the ‘limited interest’ shown by German politicians in ‘shaping a politically effective Europe Jurgen Habermas, whose work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figure in his native Germany, has died. He was 96. Habermas’ publisher, Suhrkamp, said he died on Saturday in Starnberg, near Munich. Habermas frequently weighed in on political matters over several decades. His extensive writing crossed the boundaries of academic and philosophical disciplines, providing a vision of modern society and social interaction. His best-known works included the two-volume Theory of Communicative Action. Habermas, who was 15 at the time of Nazi Germany’s defeat, later recalled the dawn of
The Chinese public maintains relatively warm sentiments toward Taiwan and strongly prefers non-military paths to improving cross-strait relations, a recent survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University showed. The “China Pulse” research project, which polled 2,506 adults between Oct. 27 last year and Jan. 1 this year, found that 86 percent of respondents support strengthening cultural ties, while 81 percent favor deepening economic interaction. The report, co-authored by political scientists at Emory University and advisors at the Carter Center, indicates that the Chinese public views Taiwan’s importance through a lens of shared history and culture rather than geopolitical
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
RSS