After the votes were counted, Lithuania’s centre-left opposition Social Democrats (SD) won 20% of the vote, ahead of the ruling Fatherland Union (18%) led by Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė and the anti-government Nemunas Dawn (15%), as SD leader Villija Blinkevičiūtė announced on Sunday, the 13th of October, that she and two other parties would seek to form a majority coalition government after the parliamentary elections, reports Reuters.
Early results showed that the SD won an election dominated by concerns about the cost of living and possible threats from neighbouring Russia.
“I think it will be a coalition with two left parties,” Blinkevičiūtė told reporters, adding that she was referring to the “Farmers and Greens” and “For Lithuania” parties.
If Blinkevičiūtė succeeds in forming a government, she is expected to maintain Lithuania’s tough stance against Russia and its huge defence spending. NATO estimates that the Baltic country of 2.9 million people will spend around 3% of its GDP on the military, making it the alliance’s sixth biggest spender this year.
Blinkevičiūtė said the country’s foreign policy would remain unchanged and assistance to Ukraine would remain a priority.
“I believe that our voters, our citizens said they want a few changes,” she said, noting that the main areas of concern are income, housing, healthcare and education.
The popularity of Simonyte’s centre-right government has been undermined by inflation, which topped 20% two years ago, deteriorating public services and a widening gap between rich and poor.
The election campaign focused heavily on domestic issues, with the SD promising to tackle rising inequality by raising taxes on the wealthiest Lithuanians to help finance higher spending on healthcare and social spending.
But national security is also a major concern in Lithuania. Three quarters of Lithuanians believe that Russia could attack their country in the near future, according to a poll conducted by Baltijos Tyrimai/ELTA in May.
All leading parties strongly support Ukraine in its war with Russia and support increased defence spending.
Lithuania has a mixed voting system and its parliament, the Seimas, has 141 members elected for four years. Half of the members are elected by popular vote and the other half by district vote, which usually favours the larger political parties. To win seats, a party needs at least 5% of the national vote, and an alliance of parties needs at least 7%. In most districts, a run-off between the top two candidates will take place on the 27th of October.
Official figures show that 52.1% of eligible voters in the Baltic country cast their ballot on Sunday, compared to 47.2% four years ago.