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It can be argued that such a party choice was plausible and even natural in his current situation.
V.Blinkevičiūtė has not spread her full popularity since she served as Minister of Social Security and Labor, when she was appointed Queen and Mother of all pensioners in the country, thus securing a place in the European Parliament since 2009.
In addition, this politician was mentioned among the most powerful leftist presidential candidates. But he did not want to transform the saturated and quiet haven of Brussels into the risky waters of Lithuanian politics.
Why did the decision change now? The most likely version is for the same Brussels shelter. Perhaps she realized it herself, perhaps the party’s friends were convinced that she no longer had another chance to stay at the top of the list of candidates for the European Parliament.
It is possible that V. Blinkevičiūtė feared that, after becoming president, J. Oleks would see at least the first place on the list as his own ears, and the party itself could weaken to such an extent that other places would not guarantee the mandate of the MEP.
However, what does this election of the head of the LSDP mean? The left found itself at a similar crossroads, which it entered immediately after 2016. defeat in the Seimas elections and the beginning of the leadership crisis.
Should we try to stay in the old vein and focus on the same high provincial voters of the so-called center left, for whom the most important thing is the echoes of the policy of the social democratic patriarch A. Brazauskas?
Are those echoes for peasants looking for escaped party supporters to overreach and try to regenerate by resorting to Western-style social democracy?
Then, after electing G. Paluckas as its leader, the left suffered a failure: the party remained on the surface of grand politics, but did not emerge from the ideological and leadership crisis.
V. Blinkevičiūtė, former Minister of the Government of A. Brazauskas at that time, although she promises to bring the sun of western social democracy, her image and rhetoric signal an attempt to return to the patriarchal roots (in this case matriarchal) of the party.
Isn’t this a late step that the Social Democrats had to take five years ago? Very likely.
Furthermore, the change from the energetic young G. Paluckas to the mature older mother V. Blinkevičiūtė may seem to some voters another sign of the party’s distraction.
In any case, in the tunnel from which the left is still looking for a way, another crucial question arises: will the magician who does not return from Brussels really face the most important task that he now identifies, that of uniting the party?
Already, splashes of passion, which burst into the public space through reciprocal accusations of the presidential candidates of a wrong campaign or manipulation, showed that great tensions had accumulated both at the base and at the top of the party.
After all, V. Blinkevičiūtė formed a tandem with G. Paluck, who in turn, with his help, hopes to maintain the advantage over the representatives of the old party leadership, who after the unsuccessful 2020. The election of Seimas forced him to give up the helm of the party.
And one of the leaders of the elite part of the party, which is dominated by Social Democrats related to J. Olek, is the former rival of G. Paluckas, the mayor of Jonava M. Sinkevičius.
The rapid popularity of M.Sinkevičius had been guaranteed to become vice president of the party in the event of J.Olekas’ victory, and to run for leaders after two years.
But wouldn’t it have been more beneficial to both the mayor of Jonava and the party if he hadn’t avoided the fight, but fled now? It is true that it would have been necessary to agree with G. Paluck and V. Blinkevičiūtė, but this was not done.
Clearly, it is likely that as the passion for elections cools, most Social Democrats, while gritting their teeth, will reassure themselves for the greater good as LSDP gains a new aide. But if the party’s ratings do not rise or rise more slowly than they want, if the party continues to fail, the infighting on the left field will resume in an instant.
It can be assumed that the friction will resume in any case, the closest possible will be the municipal elections. V.Blinkevičiūtė announced that his main goal was to win them together in the LSDP. But it is already clear that this will depend not only on this party, but also on the situation of the entire left of the center, which, winning the last elections to the Seimas, has shown that it is not only the Social Democrats who are experiencing the crisis.
The peasants who continue to lead the tandem of S. Skvernelis and R. Karbauskis, who have almost crossed the threshold of divorce, still retain the title of the main opposition force. But the new fall of the exhaled party is undeniable.
The “workers”, who were resurrected by their irreplaceable and only magician V. Uspaskich so that he could remain in the European Parliament, also look very inspiring.
The two parties, although forming an opposition coalition, compete with each other no less fiercely than the two Social Democrats seeking their place and their constituents.
Therefore, it is difficult to say whether the friction of this triangle will strengthen the entire left wing of the center or the opposite will happen.
