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“The first task is to prevent the conservatives from forming a majority. And the second task is to continue deciding whether to join the coalition with the ‘peasants’ or allow the formation of a minority government, whatever it is, the conservatives or the left,” said A. Sakalas to Delfi.
The honorary president of the LSDP explained that to achieve the first task it is necessary to support the peasant Greens in the fight against the Conservatives during the second electoral round. Finally, they also tend to agree that there should be no coalition with this political force.
“I also think that we should support them now and not join the coalition,” Sakalas said.
According to the former politician, working in a situation where there is a minority government in the country would allow the party to strengthen its political weight.
“It is very easy to control the minority government,” Sakalas said.
He believes that talks about a coalition with the Conservatives have changed his leg
The honorary president of the LSDP is reluctant to criticize the party for the election result and suggests waiting for a second round before drawing conclusions. Analyzing the results of the first round, he believes that the Social Democrats have changed their leg in electoral politics.
“It just came to our knowledge then. It had to be sharper. When the rumors began to coalesce (in a coalition) with the conservatives, they had to say their position immediately, without walking, shutting up and not saying. (…) I was influenced by the language that he would form a coalition with the conservatives, ”said A. Sakalas.
In the opinion of the party’s honorary president, Gintautas Paluckas, president of the LSDP, should take responsibility for the outcome of the elections.
“I think it is not just his problem. The party president alone cannot decide. The Council, the Presidium also decides. The party president cannot decide for himself whether or not to join a coalition with anyone. And for some reason reason, the party council and the presidium did not write their opinion, “said A. Sakalas.
In general, he proposes to leave the question of the responsibilities of the party chairman and his ability to lead the party into the future.
“An ordinary congress, during which, according to the statute, the party president will be re-elected, is scheduled for early next year,” said A. Sakalas.
The hawk’s plan is called selfish
Lauras Bielinis, a political scientist and professor at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU), who learned of A. Sakalas’s idea of leaving power to function under the conditions of minority government, described it as selfish.
“If we only talk about partisan interests, this plan is probably original. But in the sense of the state, this plan is very selfish:” that everything collapses, but we are going to strengthen. “You will not be strengthened.
The Social Democrats themselves need to think about this idea of entering the opposition and a weak ruling majority. The future shows that we will have a wide range of challenges, from a pandemic to economic and social change, not to mention the Belarusian factor, which will obviously increase. In such conditions, a strong majority must operate, which will preserve the entire state and society, or make it easier for society and the state to resist those challenges. And this plan proposed by A. Sakalas is extremely selfish, ”said L. Bielinis.
However, the political scientist agrees that any deliberation about any coalition with the Conservatives weakens the Social Democrats.
“From the beginning, it was necessary to clearly communicate and send a message that the Social Democrats are not planning any coalition with the Conservatives for ideological, political or any other reasons, that they make their own.
But why necessarily go to the opposition? After all, it is possible to be very active, creative and proactive in power, and this would revive the party, ”commented L. Bielinis.
I don’t think the situation will improve if they replace Paluck
In general, the results of the LSDP during the Seimas elections, according to which this party remained in fourth place, were considered by the political scientist as a great failure for the party.
“There is a huge apparatus of parties, experience, traditions, skills, the party structure is spread throughout Lithuania. What else is missing? Lack of energy. The party is very tired, “said L. Bielinis.
You don’t think this is just a problem for Mr. Paluck.
“I would suggest not taking everything to the party leader. A party leader is just a person who represents the party in society and is at the top of the party hierarchy. In general, the party does not work because the leader is active. The party works because it is alive as a structure, and its representatives, both at the highest and lowest levels, are interested in the existence of this party, ”said L. Bielinis.
The political scientist mentioned Sąjūdis as an example.
“There were leaders, sufficiently active, very in conflict with each other, but down to the lowest level, a person who represented or supported Sąjūdis in the furthest corner of Lithuania, there were very clear impulses that action was needed. (…)
And now let’s look at the Social Democrats, neither from the top of some organizational teams, from the mobilization actions, nor from the base of some demands. This is a very passive party structure, therefore, after changing the leader, I don’t think we will change the character of the party itself, ”said L. Bielinis.
See three problematic party contexts
Vladas Gaidys, sociologist and director of Vilmorus, did not dramatize the LSDP result during the first round.
“I mean, according to the polls, they were generally third parties. Last time, they were also third, but there was only one difference with the Labor Party. It is true that the result during the elections was lower than in the polls, but I could not say that it had fallen very steeply. They were the third-fourth and they were still the third-fourth, “said V. Gaidys.
Looking at the dynamics of party ratings, the sociologist observed that the LSDP’s rating had dropped slightly in the past two months, while the Labor Party had risen.
“There are probably contact ships here,” said V. Gaidys.
The sociologist said he saw three problematic LSDP contexts.
“One thing that his election campaign was fuzzy is not striking compared to Viktor Uspaskich’s campaign, which was remarkable. At least I saw them on TV, and somehow they didn’t.
The second moment is that there are several competitors in that space: the “peasants”, the Labor Party and other Social Democrats. They didn’t compete much.
Third point, which I don’t really understand: about the Freedom Party, why could rural districts vote for this party? There was a moment that I noticed on television that it was “enough to look back”. I suppose it may have attracted part of that Soviet electorate, former professionals who are still tied to where they served. There are not so few people like that. The Freedom Party gives them that niche psychologically. The Social Democrats don’t talk about it, others just punish them, ”said V. Gaidys.
The LSDP remained fourth among the parties
Delfi recalls that after the first round, LSDP remained fourth. The majority of votes, 24.82 percent. of participating voters, gathered by the Lithuanian Christian Democrats of the National Union, who received 23 seats across the multi-member constituency. In addition, the candidate of this party in the single-member electoral district of Antakalnis, Ingrida Šimonytė, has already won in the first round.
In second place is the Lithuanian Peasant Green Union, for which 17.50 percent voted. voters present. This party has already won 16 seats.
In third place was the Labor Party, which obtained 9.46 percent of the participation. votes and obtained nine seats.
9.26 percent voted for the LSDP during the election. voters who participated, and this party had eight seats in the future Seimas.
Eight seats also went to the Freedom Party, which received 9.03 percent of the vote. voters present.
The Liberal Movement received 6.79 percent. votes of the voters present and six seats. Other parties did not cross the five percent barrier.
After winning the battles during the first rounds of the single-member elections, two Lithuanian electoral campaigns also entered the Seimas: the candidates of the Union of Christian Families (LLRA-KŠS) Česlavas Olševskis and Beata Petkevič.
Seimas Lithuania will collect the remainder during the second round on October 25.
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