{"id":397138,"date":"2024-10-14T11:05:16","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T09:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/10\/14\/elezioni-lituania-primo-turno-sinistra\/"},"modified":"2024-10-17T17:41:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T15:41:14","slug":"lithuania-turns-left","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/10\/14\/lithuania-turns-left\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuania turns left"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – The game is not officially over, but the dynamics of the Lithuanian vote are already clear<\/strong>: the center-left will lead<\/strong> the next government. After the first round of legislative elections held yesterday (Oct. 13), the Social Democrats<\/strong> of the LDSP (the main opposition party) are in the lead. It\u00a0will try to form an executive<\/strong> with other forces from the progressive camp. The cost of living<\/strong>\u00a0has been at the heart of the campaign, while Vilnius’s strategic priority remains support for Ukraine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

At the close of the polls, the Social Democratic Party (LDSP)<\/strong> led by Vilija Blinkeviciute<\/strong> won<\/a> 19.4 percent of the vote (18 seats), trailing by four points (but only by one seat) the Christian Democratic Union of the Fatherland (TS-LKD)<\/strong> party, which leads the current government — in coalition with centrists from the Liberal Movement<\/strong> (LS, which took 7.7 percent) and the Liberty Party<\/strong> (LP, which failed to pass the 5 percent threshold) — and expresses the outgoing premier Ingrida Simonyte<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Third place went to\u00a0the populist Nemuno ausra <\/i>(PPNA)<\/strong> party, which won\u00a015 percent of the vote and 14 representatives. The other two formations that passed the bar were the center-left Union of Democrats “For Lithuania”<\/strong> (DSVL, 9.2 percent, and 8 seats) and the center-left Union of Greens and Peasants<\/strong> (LVZS, 7 percent, 6 elected).<\/p>\n