the social democrats could win, but the final result can be determined by the second round / Article

A total of 1,740 candidates from 15 lists will compete for 141 seats in the Lithuanian Seimas. Among them are 128 deputy chiefs of the previous term. Half of the seats in parliament will be reserved for lists that have passed the five percent threshold.

On the other hand, 700 candidates will fight for seats in 71 single mandate areas. As the mixed electoral system works in Lithuania, voters vote for the party lists and the candidate is represented in a specific electoral district at the polling station.

Citizens’ choice can be made easier because, unlike Latvia, pre-election campaigning is allowed in Lithuania even the day before the vote.

According to the data of the Central Election Commission of Lithuania, 174,000 residents or 7.4% of eligible voters participated in the previous voting. This is a higher figure than four years ago.

As pointed out by political observers interviewed by Latvian Radio, the most important issues on the eve of the vote are related to the economy, especially tax policy, as well as social issues, education, foreign policy and political security.

“The main issue is war and security, the geopolitical proximity of Russia and Belarus. Although it does not directly affect Lithuania, indirectly [tā tas ir]. All political parties agree that this is a problem. Only marginal parties say we need peace, but they don’t say what. If it’s peace, fine. Most parties continue to strongly support Ukraine, realizing that this is the main security issue, which it helps to solve to some extent,” said Mindaugs Jurkin, professor political science at the Greater Vytautas University in Kaunas.

Jurkin also noted that the most important domestic political issues are related to the lack of access to social rights and public services. Among them is the shortage of teachers and doctors. This is the basis of the criticism towards the current government.

The campaign for these Seimas elections became more visible just closer to the day of the vote. As Liepa Želniene, a journalist of the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT, explained in a conversation with Latvijas Radio, the campaign became particularly intense in the last two weeks.

“The reason it started slowly is that the political parties didn’t have enough money to spend on advertising, or they didn’t go to the regions and talk to people as much. In Lithuania this year, so -banks closed that they wouldn’t I don’t think that’s the reason why our political campaign was a little slower and more interesting,” she said.

The journalist pointed out that many pre-election debates were organized by the media in the past two weeks. The format of the debate, according to the law, requires that all 15 lists participating in the elections must be represented in some way. This in turn creates challenges.

“They have to speak for one minute, and then they have one minute to respond to each other. And it’s not really a talk, it’s going to be a slogan show. They have to say one sentence and that’s it. There really isn’t a policy. debate where you can hear the conversation, the arguments, numbers,” said Želniene.

photo landscape">

Ramūns Vilpišausks, a professor at Vilnius University’s Institute of International Relations and Political Science, noted in a conversation with Latvijas Radio that in the election campaign criticism of those in power will be heard from the opposition, as well as from small parties. is not represented in parliament.

The ruling conservative “Union of the Fatherland – Christian Democrats of Lithuania” is the most criticized. Vilpišauskas also criticizes the course of the campaign so far.

“This campaign has started very late and I would say that a lot of parties have very short election programs. They are not very developed, maybe that shows that. [partiju] apparently, voters are not interested in detailed proposals. At the general level, they discuss the current problems in Lithuania – socio-economic problems such as the cost of living and the like, foreign policy and security policy, how to finance national defense , what the tax policy should be,” he said.

Professor Jurkin, on the other hand, concludes that this election campaign has been very professional, taking into account the answers given to the questions during the debates before -election, and the voters have had the opportunity to get the information they are interested in, which would allow them to make a decision.

In the polls, the party “Nemunas Dawn” who was a member of the Seimas and this year’s presidential candidate Remigiis Žemaitais, has high scores. The popularity of the political force among some voters is largely the merit of Žemaitaish because of his directness.

This directive is also a factor that is enough against some political forces, who have declared that they will not cooperate with him. Although Žemaitaitis has stated that he would like to cooperate with the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania or one of the left forces, only the final result of the elections will reveal the real situation.

It is difficult to predict exactly what it might be. Experience shows that the winner of the previous election does not win first place in the next election. Accordingly, the leader of the polls, the Social Democrats, can get the majority of votes this time. But it is clear that the next governing coalition must be formed by several parties, but the question is how broad the coalition will be.

Talking about the chances that the social democrats could win these elections, Professor Mindaugs Jurkīns emphasized in the discussion that the polls of voters do not show what the results might be. the election to be in single mandate areas.

According to him, last year’s municipal elections can be an indication that the social democrats have the biggest advantages in single-mandate areas, and this will help them get the most seats in the Seimas, which is the then opening up the possibility of forming a coalition. However, Jurkin notes:

“Half of the voters will not come to vote, and in addition, 20 to 30 percent of the voters say they have not made a decision. This 20-30 percent will probably vote for something that is not reflected in the polls. We already had something like that in 2016, when “Zemnieku and green union,” he said. “No one expected this, everyone thought that the Social Democrats were the main party. The opposite happened. In the single-mandate areas, the farmers got a lot of votes and seats. That’s why we rely on opinion polls, but on the other hand, a large number of undecided voters can change the course of events.”

It seems that the elections in Lithuania could be an exception against the background of recent elections in European countries, as well as the observed political polarization, according to Professor Ramūns Vilpišausks.

“The centrist parties will try to keep a significant proportion of seats in parliament and may be able to form a multi-party coalition without including those who can be radical appreciation. politics,” said the professor.

Two weeks later – on October 27 – the second round of elections will be held in those single-mandate districts where a candidate did not win the majority of the votes.

The turnout will decide how many single-member constituencies go to the polls in the second round of elections in two weeks. That is, the candidate who won the majority of votes in the first round must receive 20 percent of the total number of votes of voters in a single-mandate constituency, in order for a second round of elections to be held in the that area.

On Sunday, the stations in Lithuania work until eight o’clock in the evening.