The intrigue is only growing, it is already showing how Lithuania will change after the election of the new Seimas

Everything will be decided in the second round.

After the first round of the Seimas elections, the Lithuanian Union of Greens and Peasants (LVŽS) remained in the second position. The representative of this party A. Širinskienė was satisfied with the results.

“I think we are very grateful to the voters, because considering that we were in power and received a lot of attacks, we deserve it and we don’t, but I think the result is very good. “It is hardly possible to remember other leaders with a similar result, after a similar period,” he said.

E. Gentvilas, representative of the Liberal Movement, said that it must be recognized that the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) had lost more than in the first elections.

“It just came to our attention then. But it is too early to rejoice after the first round of the elections,” the politician said on the program.

“In 2012, after the era of his government, the Conservatives received 32 seats in the Seimas instead of 40 and found themselves in the opposition. But the defeat, as we can see, was a quarter of the votes. In the last one legislature, when the Social Democrats won only 19 of the 40 seats after their government, the loss was already half. And the peasants had 57 seats, and after the second round of the Seimas elections, we will see what they lost, then we can evaluate, ”said the Liberal on the news radio program.

He admitted that as a party in the first round of the Seimas elections, the number of votes was quite high. But everything will show in the second round.

Although it is quite difficult to predict the results of the second round of the Seimas elections, the candidates on the center right have better starting positions: their party representatives are simply single-member electoral districts.

The representative of the Labor Party, member of the Seimas M. Puidokas recalled that it is rarely possible to cause waves twice for a political force.

“Politically, it is very rare for a political force to succeed in causing at least one wave as it was in 2016. And for the same political force to have two such waves, there are no such cases, not even in theory” said M. Puidokas.

Inconsistent Social Democrats

Even before the Seimas elections, the LVŽS assured that it would support the single-member members of the center left, and the LSDP made the same decision immediately after the elections.

“Support for the second electoral round is coordinated. I think it is consistent that the center-left parties support each other when they do not compete with each other in the constituencies. We said it very openly before the first round,” said A. Širinskienė , representative of LVŽS, on the news radio program.

E. Gentvilas considers the current role of the Social Democrats inconsistent.

“It seems to me that the Social Democrats now seem very inconsistent. In that step, they may seem normal, but in that context, they left the ruling majority led by the peasants 3 years ago. (…) They are also close to the peasants again”, said E. Gentvilas about the support promised by the LSPD to the LSMS candidates in the second round of the Seimas elections.

And speaking of a possible center-right coalition, the Liberal said he saw a basis for that.

“I see a basis for the conservative-liberal association to emerge politically and have a not very strong center-right government. Again, everything will depend on the second round of elections. The liberals have worked with the conservatives in 2008-2012. The difficult thing is to always be there. Okay. Liberals have always been ambitious and the Freedom Party has become even more ambitious, “said the politician.

The Freedom Party, the left, there was no new force

“They come up with radical and very ambitious ideas. And for them, of course, to reconcile with the Christian wing of the Conservative Party, they will have to work a lot there, ”said E. Gentvilas.

First jobs?

Parliamentarian E. Gentvilas spoke on the program that the intimidation of the peasants that the center-right coalition would undo everything they had done was repressed.

“It would definitely not be the case that the new right-wing government took turns from the first month. For example, reform of higher education. The goal, it was said, was to reduce the number of universities, but it was not very successful. But the The objective itself cannot be just a number. The objective must be quality. We must not disconnect them, but think about how to reform higher education even more, “said liberal E. Gentvilas.

He was also happy with the victories he had already overcome: weak alcohol could be sold on the beaches.

“It would be to review those things and think about what are redundant things and what are not. The reduction of bureaucratic red tape and the role of the government must be found in the daily life of the right-wing government ”, said E. Gentvilas, representative of the Liberal Movement, about possible changes.

LVNS representative Agnė Širinskienė said she was concerned about the right-wing attitude of the center.

“They no longer hide the legalization of drugs,” said A. Širinskienė. He said that although it was about decriminalization, the abolition of criminal responsibility for possession of small amounts of drugs, but only administrative responsibility would be legalized in practice.

Where is the Labor Party leaning?

One of the surprises of this first round of the Seimas elections is the appearance of the Labor Party. Viktor Upaskich, the party president, who actively contributed to the election campaign, was one of the reasons why, according to M. Puidoko, the party was so lucky.

“It just came to our knowledge then. First of all, the very clear and strong leadership of our party president, Viktor Uspaskich, who mobilized the entire party for that promotion. (…) Let’s be fair, there was a very determined and mobilized work. all over Lithuania. (…) I think all parties are, in a sense, jealous of such a charismatic leader of the Labor Party. And the fate of the Social Democrats themselves, historically one of the worst performances. Because there is no such charismatic leader ”Explained M. Puidokas.

M. Puidokas stated on the “Open Talk” radio news program that he did not want to come to power due to the portfolios of various ministers.

“If we get to the government, we have, let’s say, several ministries. But if our fundamental obligations to the people are not met, it is obvious that this cannot be a good and correct scenario,” said M. Puidokas.

He said that if a center-right ruling coalition was formed, it would not be easy to include the goals set by the Labor Party in the work program.

E. Gentvilas evaluated the thoughts expressed by M. Puidokas and Labor Party leader Viktor Uspaskich as naively clever speech.

“They say that because they have not reached 71 seats in their party, and with ten seats it is possible to compromise in a government. But therefore, in a multi-party system, a party will never have an absolute majority. You always have to think that you always lose part of your identity during negotiations when you go to the polls. There is no need to cheat here, or you want to make fun of yourself, or you go to the government and you can realize something there, “said the liberal on the news radio program.

A. Širinskienė was surprised that V. Uspaskich and the entire Labor Party managed to say before the first round of the elections that this party was never in power. But for this party, according to the leader of the list Vigilijus Juknos, there is a presence in the position of prime minister.

“The fact that in 2012-2016 they had 5 ministers, they do not consider him to be in power. This approach, to put it mildly, is very strange, ”A. Širinskienė said on the show.

Puidokas explained that the goal of the Labor Party was to win enough seats to form a ruling majority. But it failed, now the conservatives and peasants have the opportunity to do it.
The Labor Party is inclined to work in the opposition.

“I believe that the Labor Party has already learned from previous mistakes. And we believe that being in the opposition, we could become the constructive force that will support those bills and laws that are beneficial to Lithuania and the people,” said M. Puidokas, representative of the Labor Party.

The second round of the Seimas elections will take place on October 25.