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The last elections of the Seimas were unusual for the eyes due to the subtleties of the pandemic. However, two-round voting, in multi-member and single-member districts, has been established in Lithuania for 28 years. In this way, people elect 70 parliamentarians to the Seimas according to the party or proportional system, and delegate another 71 voting directly in their electoral districts.
And it’s single-member constituencies that have been the biggest obstacle for some politicians and pundits lately. In the second round, many people say that they do not vote for but against the unpleasant candidate, many votes are in vain, because a dozen candidates are nominated, and only one candidate enters the Seimas.
“In single-member electoral districts, up to 80 percent. Voters are not represented for the second round or for other reasons. Under the current system, fewer women are elected in the single-member party,” says conservative Andrius Vyšniauskas .
So the ruling conservatives came up with the idea of proposing a change in the electoral system. Now is the time, because there are still 3.5 years until the next elections. Representatives of the parties have met in a working group and are inviting experts for consultations. Rolandas Tučas, a political geographer at Vilnius University, believes that Lithuania should follow the path of Latvia and Estonia: abandoning single-member constituencies entirely and dividing multi-member constituencies into multiple constituencies.
“The Latvian option, dividing the territory of Lithuania into 5 or 7 districts, would be the most acceptable to me,” says political geographer Rolandas Tučas.
There are five counties in Latvia, 12 in Estonia, and only the capital Tallinn is divided into three counties. Such regional representation would be like a compromise: it would be enough for voters to vote once, but those elected would also represent their constituency.
“It will not change the fact that a part of Lithuania will be more or less represented,” says political scientist Mažvydas Jastramskis.
Political scientist Ainė Ramonaitė, who studies voter behavior, says her compatriots would certainly be happy to have the opportunity to freely rank candidates.
“Which candidate do you like the most, and not necessarily from the same party. There would be some lists, some people and they could qualify well from another match. Lithuanian people would like it very much, because they usually complain that “I like this, but I also like this, why do I have to join a party?” Said the political scientist Ainė Ramonaitė.
It is true that a model similar to the Irish system is unlikely to see the light of day. Counting the votes would be extremely difficult. Experts also point out that it is in single-member states that people damage the most ballots and the limits of single-member members are constantly being redesigned. This confuses voters, and when constituencies merge due to declining population, such representation of voters also becomes questionable. However, according to political scientist Mažvydas Jastramskis, changing the electoral system is unlikely to become a panacea.
“Even though the current one works suboptimal in the best of cases, but in fact, badly, there is no guarantee that after the change of the electoral system of the Seimas, everything will start to work perfectly”, says M. Jastramskis .
Furthermore, the abolition of single-member states could mean the loss of small parties or those politicians whose constituents are concentrated in a small area.
“How to secure regional parties, specifically on national minorities, because how am I going to get up the list in Taurage?” Asks Seimas member Rita Tamašunienė.
And the Freedom Party would feel much better without single-member members: it secured just three of the 11 seats won in constituencies.
“This would improve the quality of democracy and would make it possible to strengthen the parties themselves and admit high-quality politicians to the Seimas, thus protecting in part from the great political fluctuations that are characteristic of everything,” says Vytautas Mitalas, Party representative of freedom.
It is true that the same story would not necessarily repeat itself in other elections.
“This electoral system always benefits the political parties that are popular. Regardless of right and left. Because we see that there is fluctuation, sometimes it supports the right, sometimes the center, sometimes the left, “says political scientist Lauras Bielinis.
And the opposition peasants left the working group called by the rulers.
“We believe that the conservatives are initiating the reform simply because the next elections are in favor of the legislation. As you know, the single-member system is often unfavorable for them, especially the second single-member rounds,” said farmer Agnė Širinskienė.
“It is a myth that we are not successful in this election, we have more people who have won single-member elections. But we do not look at electoral corrections through this prism, ”says A. Vyšniauskas.
Political scientist Lauras Bielinis doubts that the electoral system needs coups now.
“It just came to our attention then. Some skeptical voters may just not go to the polls. Not because they are against everyone, but because they are not catching up and it is not clear who will win by voting this way,” says L Bielinis.
The Seimas working group will discuss issues related to electoral reform in another month and promises to prepare concrete proposals during the summer.
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