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The faction valued the rulers’ unilateral aspirations, which aimed solely at strengthening their own power and the desire to create a friendly electoral system that would ensure victory in the upcoming municipal and Seimas elections.
“The rulers propose to abandon the single-member electoral districts, while it is common knowledge that the weak point of the Lithuanian Christian National-Democratic Union (TS-LKD) in the Seimas elections is the second round of elections in single-member electoral districts, where It is difficult for this party to win.
The governors’ proposal to bureaucratize the activities of the electoral committees is also negatively valued, which makes it difficult for non-partisans to participate in municipal elections, while it is obvious that the electoral committees in some very large municipalities, such as Kaunas,, Says Aušrinė Norkienė, the eldest of the LVŽS faction.
According to A. Norkienė, the ideas of the rulers to organize presidential elections in the Seimas are also difficult to understand. Considerations are already being heard that direct presidential elections are supposedly out of step with his mandate. Following such changes in 2024. The head of state could still be elected by this ruling majority, which would undoubtedly increase Ingrida Šimonytė’s chances of becoming president.
According to the LVŽS faction, the behavior of the rulers in their favorable transformation of the electoral system creates a dangerous precedent that the essential elements of the political system – the composition of the Seimas and the principles of its formation, the procedure for electing the head of state – it may change depending on the next election.
According to LVŽS elder A. Norkienė, changing the electoral system would not bring political stability, on the contrary, it would cause confusion in political life and, after the end of a political cycle, would encourage parties in the next political cycle to take care of your future and make the necessary changes again.
The change in the electoral system is also unexpected for voters: none of the ruling majority parties declared these intentions in their electoral programs. Voters especially value the ability to elect people directly and generally actively advocate for the election of a member of the Seimas in a single-member constituency or in direct elections for mayors, while direct presidential elections tend to record the highest turnout. .
Thus, changes in the electoral system that are politically beneficial to individual political forces are expected to disappoint voters, and frustration is likely to translate into even lower turnout.
The opposition’s proposal to move to proportional representation in multi-member counties is also unacceptable to the opposition, which will reduce regional representation, as the votes of the urban population (the majority of the population lives in cities) will determine the results. of the -member of the constituency. Consequently, regions and their problems will be less represented in the Seimas, and regional politics will be less significant, which in the long term may contribute to an even greater segregation of cities and regions in Lithuania.
Taking into account the above circumstances, the members of the Seimas LVŽS faction do not support the reform of the electoral system initiated by the ruling coalition, they refuse to participate in the development of legal acts that legitimize this reform, and they withdraw from the electoral working group in the Seimas.
