Parliamentary elections in Lithuania held on Sunday 11 October and on Sunday, 25th October where Lithuanians voted to elect members of the 141-seat parliament. With an average voter turnout of 49.44%, almost 2.5 million people registered to vote in the elections to parliament.
What Happened At The Polls?
The conservative opposition, Homeland Union Party, won the elections and is projected to occupy up to 50-seats in parliament while the Union of Farmers and Greens were runners up, occupying 32 seats. The leader of the Homeland Union, Ingrida Simonyte, has said she will begin coalition talks with the Liberal Movement, which won 13 seats, and the recently-founded Freedom Party, which won 11 seats. With a combined 73 seats out of 141, the leaders of the parties are at home with the idea of a coalition and would have Ms Simonyte as the coalition leader.
“Three parties agreed to start discussions about the new coalition. But nothing is agreed until everything is agreed,” Ms Simonyte told reporters.
Worthy of note also is that COVID-19 health and safety measures were strictly adhered to as voters were obliged to wear masks and bring their own pens. Voters also had the option of using a drive-thru voting system.
A Women-Led Victory
These elections are significant for Lithuania, not only because the opposition has now taken over the government, but because women led this victory. At a time where Lithuania’s economy is struggling due to the global pandemic, Lithuanians turned to the former Finance Minister, Ingrida Simonyte, effectively voting out the government of Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis. Now she will be joined in a coalition with three other parties whose leaders are women as well. As the new government takes over, a priority issue will be working with leaders of the EU’s other 26 countries towards finalizing the terms for the coronavirus recovery fund which thy would jointly borrow to tackle the effects of the pandemic on EU nations.
