Lithuania face this Sunday its first national elections since the Russian invasion of Ukrainean issue that has focused debate in many political parties, even though most of them are determined to strengthen the borders and solidly support Ukraine in the war.
Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. Sunday in Lithuania, the most populous of the three Baltic countries and with more than 2.3 million citizens eligible to vote, in the first round of elections to the 141-member Seimas (Parliament). .
Lithuanians are choosing from 15 lists of candidates (14 political parties and one alliance) in the first national elections to the Seimas since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and at least six forces are expected to enter parliament. The three main demographic institutes predict a victory for the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), led by Vilija Blinkeviciute, currently a member of the European Parliament (EP), but polls do not agree on which parties will occupy second, third or subsequent places in the vote.
A poll carried out by Vilmorus and published in early October in the newspaper Lietuvos Rytas places the controversial new left-wing populist force Nemuno Aušra (New Dawn or NA) in second position, with 11.6% of the vote. However, two other polls, conducted by Gallup-affiliated Sprinter Research and Baltic Surveys, place current Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte’s Lithuanian National Union-Christian Democrats or TS-LKD in second place, and NA respectively in third place. and fourth.
Even if the polls are in favor of the LSDP, it is not certain that the result of the final vote, the second round of which is scheduled for October 27, will lead to a left or center-left government coalition. Even with the parties’ differences of opinion on domestic policy, most candidates support Lithuania’s strong support for Ukraine and measures to strengthen national defense.
Polling stations will close at 8:00 p.m. and preliminary results from the majority of the 1,947 polling stations are expected on Monday between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m., a spokesperson for the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) told EFE. There will be no exit polls offering early indications of the outcome of the first round, as is the case in other countries.
Lithuanians began voting in advance on Tuesday for these elections, during which the 141 members of the Seimas are renewed and 70 seats of which are elected proportionally in a national constituency, with a minimum threshold of 5%, according to a list system. and 71 are in single-member constituencies, with a two-round majority system
