Parliamentary elections were held in Lithuania on 9 and 23 October 2016 to elect the 141 members of the Seimas. 71 were elected in single-member constituencies using the two-round system, and the remaining 70 in a single nationwide constituency using proportional representation. The first round was held on 9 October and the second round on 23 October.
The Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union emerged as the largest party with 22% of the popular vote and 54 seats, up from just 4% and a single seat in the previous elections in 2012. The success of the party was attributed to voter dissatisfaction with established parties in light of low wages and persistent emigration. Homeland Union, the largest opposition party in the preceding Seimas, finished a distant second with 31 seats, though winning a slightly larger share of the national vote.
The parties of the outgoing government suffered major losses, falling from 78 seats to 28. The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, which had been the largest party prior to the elections, lost over half its seats and finished in third place with 17. Their coalition partner the Labour Party fared even worse, falling from 29 seats to just 2. Order and Justice won 8 seats, down from 11.
Background The 2012 parliamentary elections were held on 14 October 2012, with the run-off on 28 October. The elections were won by the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, which took 38 seats in the 141-member Eleventh Seimas. Social Democrats were joined in the coalition government by Labour, Order and Justice and the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania. The Polish party withdrew from the government in 2014.
The resulting government was headed by the leader of the Social Democrats, Algirdas Butkevičius, as the Prime Minister.
Electoral system
The Seimas has 141 members, elected to a four-year term in parallel voting, with 71 members elected in single-member constituencies and 70 members elected by proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency. Voting in the elections is open to all citizens of Lithuania who are at least 18-years-old.
Members of the Seimas from the 71 single-member constituencies are elected by a majority vote. A candidate is elected in the first round by obtaining an absolute majority of all votes cast (including blank/invalid votes) in given constituency and turnout there is at least 40%. If these criteria are not fulfilled, a run-off between the two highest-placed candidates is held within 15 days. In the second round, the candidate who obtains the most votes is elected (an absolute majority is not required), but if turnout in a given constituency is under 40% again, the whole election process there is repeated.
The remaining 70 seats are allocated to the participating political parties using the largest remainder method. In the nationwide constituency, party lists need to receive at least 5% (7% for multi-party electoral lists) of the total votes cast (including blank/invalid votes) to be eligible for a seat (irrespective of the number of seats gained in single-member constituencies). Candidates take the seats allocated to their parties based on the preference lists submitted before the elections and adjusted by preference votes given by the voters.
To be eligible for election, candidates must be at least 25 years old on the election day, not under allegiance to a foreign state and permanently resident in Lithuania. Persons serving or due to serve a sentence imposed by the court 65 days before the elections are not eligible. Also, judges, citizens performing military service, and servicemen of professional military service and officials of statutory institutions and establishments may not stand for election. In addition, a person who has been removed from office through impeachment may not be elected.
Changes before the elections The 71 single-seat constituencies in Lithuania were drawn in 1992, based on the principle that the number of voters in each constituency should be between 90 and 110 percent of the average number of voters per constituency. As the demographic situation changed, the Seimas Elections' Act was amended to allow a deviation in the range from 80 and 120 percent, in order to avoid major changes to constituency boundaries.
In October 2015, the Constitutional Court of Lithuania decided that the existing system, which allows the largest constituency to be as much as 50% larger than the smallest one, is unconstitutional, since it does not give sufficiently equal weight to all votes. The court stated that the constituencies should be redrawn in such a way that the number of voters in each constituency is between 90 and 110 percent of the average.
The decision of the Constitutional Court was implemented in December 2015, when the new constituencies were announced. Major changes included two additional constituencies in Vilnius.
Opinion polls Election outcomeResultPartiesInvalid votes, %Turnout, %Lead, %LSDPTS-KDDPTTLRLSLLRADKLVŽSŽPOtherSeats173128148054164.150.623PR vote, %14.421.74.75.39.05.50.321.61.911.50.1Polls by Vilmorus for Lietuvos RytasDatePartiesWon't voteDon't knowNo answerLeadLSDPTS-KDDPTTLRLSLLRADKLVŽSŽPOther16.09.25.14.82.72.00.212.61.59.512.920.72.73.414.210.87.05.55.92.6-12.02.51.614.921.62.02.216.210.98.26.33.62.9-13.02.61.411.421.01.83.216.28.98.25.38.92.8-12.52.40.513.818.32.23.715.78.07.78.49.62.50.811.11.80.812.119.52.04.621.210.27.97.710.43.20.37.12.30.511.318.11.810.823.09.96.87.48.73.60.77.12.50.810.916.52.113.120.79.17.77.79.63.60.25.91.40.611.818.53.211.123.58.49.27.09.82.90.36.01.90.610.517.52.413.724.39.99.27.811.02.70.16.31.60.910.713.71.813.3Polls by "Spinter tyrimai" for Delfi.ltDatePartiesWon't voteDon't knowNo answerLeadLSDPTS-KDDPTTLRLSLLRADKLVŽSŽPOther15.613.75.24.95.04.2-14.0-9.616.311.51.617.210.56.65.16.34.7-12.42.07.015.812.44.815.810.77.36.26.14.8-13.42.35.316.112.02.416.810.57.67.56.34.3-12.22.35.314.312.94.615.59.37.57.66.64.3-11.53.03.016.715.04.017.27.57.18.015.54.5-11.32.12.014.110.71.718.810.65.99.015.04.5-8.21.72.314.49.63.819.610.57.07.414.24.8-6.62.01.615.410.95.420.99.97.48.613.04.0-6.82.21.825.4-7.923.09.57.08.513.54.0-5.51.83.016.57.7-9.522.410.67.09.114.63.5-5.62.02.314.68.3-7.8Preceding electionsResultPartiesInvalid votes, %Turnout, %Lead, %LSDPTS-KDDPTTLRLSLLRADKLVŽSŽPOtherSeats3833291110871-34.252.95PR vote, %18.415.119.97.38.65.88.03.9-8.91.5
Politicians not standing Stasys Brundza (DK) Povilas Gylys (DK) Jonas Kondrotas (DP) Kazimieras Kuzminskas (TS–LKD) Vytautas Matulevičius (DK) Aurelija Stancikienė (DK) Vitalija Vonžutaitė (DP) Pranas Žeimys (TS–LKD)Vyriausioji rinkimų komisija (VRK) vrk.lt Vilnius 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2022. (in Lithuanian)
Campaign Announcement On 7 April 2016 the President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė, officially announced 9 October 2016 as the election date. The announcement, which came into effect on 9 April 2016, launched the election campaign, allowing the potential participants to register for the elections, raise funds and campaign in public.
Campaign financing In January 2016, the Central Electoral Commission announced the spending limits for political campaigns in 2016. A party participating in the elections in the nationwide constituency could spend a total of 770 thousand euros on the campaign. Participants in the election races in single-seat constituencies could spend between 18 and 22 thousand euros, depending on the size of the constituency. As a result, a political party with candidates in every single-seat constituency could spend just over 2.2 million euros on its election campaign.
Only citizens of Lithuania could contribute financially to the election campaigns. Each citizen could contribute up to 7,570 euros to a candidate, as long as their total contributions during the year did not exceed 10% of their stated annual income. A candidate could contribute up to 15,140 euros to their own election campaign.
Participating parties 23 political parties were eligible to participate in the elections, having submitted their membership rolls before 1 March 2016, in compliance with legal requirements. 16 political parties registered for the elections before the deadline on 5 August 2016. 12 of them participated in the elections independently, while the remaining 4 formed two separate electoral coalitions, bringing the total number of electoral lists to 14, down from 18 in 2012. The electoral lists were assigned numbers in a random draw on 25 August.
NumberParty / Electoral listLeaderIdeologyEuropean affiliationCurrent seatsPartyElectoral list 1 Social Democratic Party of LithuaniaAlgirdas ButkevičiusSocial democracyParty of European Socialists 40 2 Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian DemocratsGabrielius LandsbergisChristian democracy, conservative liberalismEuropean People's Party 30 3 Lithuanian Freedom Union (Liberals)Artūras ZuokasConservative liberalismAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe - 4 Coalition of S. Buškevičius and the Nationalists "Against corruption and poverty"Young LithuaniaStanislovas BuškevičiusStanislovas BuškevičiusNationalism, right-wing populismnone -Lithuanian Nationalist UnionAudrius RudysNationalism, national conservatism, right-wing populismnone - 5 Order and JusticeRolandas PaksasRemigijus ŽemaitaitisNationalism, national conservatism, soft euroscepticismAlliance for Direct Democracy in Europe 9 6 Lithuanian Farmers and Greens UnionRamūnas KarbauskisSaulius SkvernelisGreen politics, agrarianism, Christian democracy, national conservatismnone 1 7 Liberal MovementRemigijus ŠimašiusEugenijus GentvilasLiberalism, classical liberalismAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe 12 8 Labour PartyValentinas MazuronisKęstutis DaukšysSocial liberalism, populism, centrismAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe 27 9 The Way of CourageJonas VarkalaAnti-corruption, populismnone 7 10 Lithuanian People's PartyRolandas PaulauskasRussophilia, Right-wing populism, nationalismnone - 11 Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania - Christian Families AllianceValdemar TomaševskiRita Tamašunienė Polish minority interests, Christian democracy, euroscepticismAlliance of European Conservatives and Reformists 8 12 Lithuanian Green PartyLinas BalsysGreen politics, left liberalismnone 1 13 Political Party "Lithuanian List"Darius KuolysCentrism, anti-austerity politicsnone - 14 Anti-corruption coalition of Kristupas Krivickas and Naglis PuteikisLithuanian Centre PartyNaglis PuteikisNaglis PuteikisNationalism, euroscepticismnone -Lithuanian Pensioners' PartyVytautas Jurgis KadžysSocial justice, elders' interestnone -
Over the year preceding the elections, six political parties consistently polled above the 5 percent threshold for seats in the nationwide constituency: Social Democrats, Homeland Union, Liberal Movement, Farmers and Greens Union, Labour, and Order and Justice.
After their election victory in 2012, the Social Democrats led the governing coalition, with Algirdas Butkevičius as Prime Minister. Butkevičius, his government and the Social Democrats maintained very high approval ratings among the public and performed well in the elections to the European parliament in 2014 (where they finished a close second) and the municipal elections in 2015 (where they won the most mandates and mayoral posts). Their ratings suffered in 2016, damaged by a corruption scandal related to construction in protected areas near Druskininkai, but the Social Democrats remained the most popular party according to opinion polls. The electoral program of the party was focused on spreading the benefits of the growing economy by increasing salaries and retirement benefits.