Abstract
This chapter explores the main trends of the European Parliament (EP) elections in Lithuania since its entry to the EU in 2004. The focus lies on the most recent poll in 2019. Despite the Eurosceptic actors gradually becoming more vocal, European issues have largely remained out of direct party competition. As previously, the Eurosceptic candidates performed badly in 2019. Moreover, the main contestants adopted even more pro-European manifestos than before. Two factors are singled out to account for such firm allegiance to the EU in the country. Firstly, both parties and voters largely treat European integration as an essential security guarantee in an increasingly volatile geopolitical environment. Secondly, the main parties across the political spectrum underwent structural and generational changes that also strengthened their pro-European character, while relevant Eurosceptic forces failed to overcome their fragmentation and marginalization.
The research is funded by the European Social Fund under the No 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-02-0165 “Development of Competences of Scientists, other Researchers and Students through Practical Research Activities” measure.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
This is not the case, however, regarding the operation of the parties and election committees. The rules of financing, for example, are less strict for the election committees, which remains a controversial issue in Lithuania.
- 2.
In a survey carried out in 1992, 64 per cent of Lithuanian respondents were in favour of joining the European Community (INRA 1993).
- 3.
Formerly called the Nationalist Union (Tautininkų sąjunga). In its current form the party was established in 2017, when the Republican Party, another Eurosceptic party, joined the Nationalist Union.
- 4.
Previously known as the National Centre Party (Nacionalinė centro partija).
- 5.
Ozolas was an important player in the Lithuanian independence movement (1988–1990) and later became better known for his openly anti-EU rhetoric. Just before the referendum on Lithuanian membership in the EU, Ozolas argued against joining the EU, describing membership in the EU as a loss of Lithuanian independence (Ozolas 2005).
- 6.
Previously, the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberalų demokratų partija).
- 7.
Previously known as the Lithuanian Peasants Party (Lietuvos valstiečių partija), the Peasants and New Democratic Party Union (Valstiečių ir Naujosios demokratijos partijų sąjunga), the Lithuanian Peasant Popular Union (Lietuvos valstečių liaudininkų sąjunga) and the Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union (Lietuvos valstiečių ir žaliųjų sąjunga).
- 8.
Since 2016, its official name has been the Lithuanian Polish Electoral Action – Christian Families’ Union (Lietuvos lenkų rinkimų akcija – Krikščioniškų šeimų sąjunga, LLRA-KŠS). In EP elections in 2004, it also ran a joint list with the Lithuanian Russian Union (Lietuvos rusų sąjunga), and since 2014 with the Russian Alliance (Rusų aljansas).
- 9.
Only in Latvia was the average voter turnout in elections to the EP from 2004 to 2014 a bit higher (41.8 per cent).
- 10.
However, just months after the EP elections, the Lithuanian Polish Electoral Action (LPEA), represented in the EP by its chair Valdemar Tomaševski, announced that they were leaving the government headed by Algirdas Butkevičius (LSDP).
- 11.
The rest of the MPs are elected in 71 single-mandate districts.
- 12.
This party was formed in mid-2018, when a group of LSDP MPs, including their two former leaders and Prime Ministers Kirkilas and Butkevičius, left the party after they rejected the decision by an internal party referendum to withdraw from the governing coalition.
- 13.
According to the Flash Eurobarometer survey published in November 2018, only 42 per cent of Lithuanians thought that having the Euro was a good thing for Lithuania—the lowest share across the Eurozone.
- 14.
This number closely corresponds to the actual share of Eurosceptics in Lithuania. According to the 2019 Spring Eurobarometer, Lithuanian withdrawal from the EU was supported by around 9 per cent of Lithuanian voters (European Parliament 2019).
References
Aleknonis, G. (2014). European Parliament Elections in Lithuania: Populist Competition in the Shadow of the Presidential Vote. Political Preferences, 9, 37–56.
Baltic Times. (2019). Orban Asks Lithuanian Conservatives Leader to Leave Fidesz in EU Center-Right Group. https://www.baltictimes.com/orban_asks_lithuanian_conservatives_leader_to_leave_fidesz_in_eu_center-right_group/. Accessed 7 July 2019
Braghiroli, S. (2010). Lithuania. In J. Lodge (Ed.), The 2009 Elections to the European Parliament (pp. 178–187). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cabada, L., Hloušek, V., & Jurek, P. (2014). Party Systems in East Central Europe. Plymouth: Lexington Books.
Central Electoral Commission. (2019a). Referendum on Lithuania’s Membership of the European Union, 10–11 May 2003. http://www.vrk.lt/statiniai/puslapiai/rinkimai/2003/referendumas/rezultatai/rez_e_16.htm. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Central Electoral Commission. (2019b). Tautininkų sąjungos programa. https://www.vrk.lt/Tautininku-programa/. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Central Electoral Commission. (2019c). Nacionalinė centro partija. https://www.vrk.lt/statiniai/puslapiai/rinkimai/2004/euro/programos/index.html. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Central Electoral Commission. (2019d). Nr. 6 Lietuvos centro partija. https://www.vrk.lt/nr.-6-lietuvos-centro-partija/. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Central Electoral Commission. (2019e). Partijų rinkimų programų leidinys. https://www.vrk.lt/documents/10180/606155/Daugiamandates+inf.+leidinys_2016.pdf/5a06d1e3-7fd5-4192-b397-a0531bdd5971. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Central Electoral Commission. (2019f). Rinkimai į Europos Parlamentą 2019 m. gegužės 26 d. https://www.vrk.lt/documents/10180/676652/EP+bendras+leidinys++A5+2019.pdf/36efb36d-7f88-479e-855a-666c4060b322. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Central Electoral Commission. (2019g). Anketos dėl rinkėjų informavimo apie ryšius tarp nacionalinių partijų ir Europos politinių partijų. https://www.vrk.lt/anketos-del-rinkeju-informavimo-apie-rysius-tarp-nacionaliniu-partiju-ir-europos-politiniu-partiju-2019-ep. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Central Electoral Commission. (2019h). Kviečiame stebėti 2019 m. rinkimų diskusijų laidas per LRT ir „Lietuvos ryto” televiziją. https://www.vrk.lt/naujienos/-/content/10180/9/kvieciame-stebeti-2019-m-rinkimu-diskusiju-laidas-per-lrt-ir-lietuvos-ryto-televizija. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Central Electoral Commission. (2019i). Rinkimai ir referendumai. https://www.vrk.lt/rinkimai. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. (2010). On Elections to the European Parliament. https://www.lrkt.lt/en/court-acts/search/170/ta1215/content. Accessed 6 July 2019.
European Commission. (2019a). Eurobarometer Interactive. https://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinionmobile/index.cfm/Chart/index. Accessed 6 July 2019.
European Commission (2019b). EU Expenditure and Revenue 2014–2020. http://ec.europa.eu/budget/graphs/revenue_expediture.html. Accessed 6 July 2019.
European Social Survey (2019). Cumulative File, ESS 1–8. http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/. Accessed 6 July 2019.
INRA (1993): European Integration Survey 1992. GESIS Data Archive, Cologne. https://doi.org/10.4232/1.2345. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Jastramskis, M., & Ramonaitė, A. (2015). Lithuania. European Journal of Political Research Political Data Yearbook, 54, 190–198. https://doi.org/10.1111/2047-8852.12097.
Krupavičius, A. (2005). Lithuania. European Journal of Political Research, 44, 1086–1101. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2005.00273.x.
Krupavičius, A. (2010). Lithuania. European Journal of Political Research, 49, 1058–1075. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2010.01962.x.
Lewis, P. (2006). Party Systems in Post-Communist Central Europe: Patterns of Stability and Consolidation. Democratization, 13(4), 562–583. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510340600791863.
Lietuvių tautininkų ir respublikonų sąjunga. (2019a). Istorija. https://tautininkai.lt/istorija/. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Lietuvių tautininkų ir respublikonų sąjunga. (2019b). Bendroji programa. https://tautininkai.lt/bendroji-programa/. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Lietuvos centro partija. (2019). Programa. https://www.centropartija.lt/programa. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Lietuvos valstiečių ir žaliųjų sąjunga. (2013). LVŽS: Referendumas dėl žemės pardavimo – ne emocija, o stiprėjanti Lietuvos pozicija ES. https://www.lvzs.lt/lt/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1421:lvs-referendumas-dl-ems-pardavimo-ne-emocija-o-stiprjanti-lietuvos-pozicija-es&catid=2:pagrindinis&Itemid=1. Accessed 6 July 2019.
LRLS. (2019). Europos Parlamento 2019 metų rinkimų programa. https://www.liberalai.lt/content/uploads/2018/10/EP-PROGRAMA_Patvirtinta-Tarybos-2019.02.28.pdf. Accessed 7 July 2019.
LRT. (2019a). Rinkimai 2019: Kandidatų į Europos Parlamentą debatai I. https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/2000067371/kandidatu-i-europos-parlamenta-debatai. Accessed 6 July 2019.
LRT. (2019b). Rinkimai 2019: Kandidatų į Europos Parlamentą debatai II. https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/2000068300/rinkimai-2019-kandidatu-i-europos-parlamenta-debatai. Accessed 6 July 2019.
LSDP. (2019). LSDP rinkimų į 2019–2024 metų Europos parlamentą programa. https://www.lsdp.lt/europosprograma/. Accessed 7 July 2019
Mayer, T. (2005). Lithuania. In J. Lodge (Ed.), The 2004 Elections to the European Parliament (pp. 173–179). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ozolas, R. (2005). 2004-ieji: Lietuva: antrosios Respublikos pabaiga. Vilnius: Mintis.
Paksas, R. (2018). Kviečiu į Tautos referendumą dėl lito sugrąžinimo. http://www.respublika.lt/lt/naujienos/lietuva/lietuvos_politika/rolandas_paksas_kvieciu_i_tautos_referenduma_del_lito_sugrazinimo/. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Radžvilas, V. (2017). European Union at a Crossroad: Reform or Failure? In A. Austers & K. Bukovskis (Eds.), Euroscepticism in the Baltic States: Uncovering Issues, People and Stereotypes (pp. 38–50). Riga: Latvian Institute of International Affairs, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
Rose, R., & Munro, N. (2009). Parties and Elections in New European Democracies. Colchester: ECPR Press.
Szczerbiak, A., & Taggart, P. (2008). Theorizing Party-Based Euroscepticism: Problems of Definition, Measurement, and Causality. In A. Szczerbiak & P. Taggart (Eds.), Opposing Europe? The Comparative Party Politics of Euroscepticism, Volume 2 (pp. 238–262). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Taggart, P., & Szczerbiak, A. (2008). Conclusion: Opposing Europe? Three Patterns of Party Competition over Europe. In A. Szczerbiak & P. Taggart (Eds.), Opposing Europe? The Comparative Party Politics of Euroscepticism, Volume 1 (pp. 348–363). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Talving, L., & Pukelis, L. (2014). The Baltic States: Mixed Results for Incumbents. In L. De Sio, V. Emanuele, & N. Maggini (Eds.), The European Parliament Elections of 2014 (pp. 133–140). Rome: Centro Italiano Studi Elettorali.
TS-LKD. (2014). 2014 m. Europos parlamento rinkimų programa. https://elections-europeennes.robert-schuman.eu/wp-content/themes/electionseuropeennes/pdf/1_Homeland_Union_Lithuanian_Christian_Democrats_program.pdf. Accessed 7 July 2019.
TS-LKD. (2018). Declaration: We Believe in Europe. https://tsajunga.lt/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/TS-LKD-European-Declaration_2018-05-12-EN.pdf. Accessed 7 July 2019.
Tvarka ir teisingumas. (2019). Lietuvos vieta – Tautų Europoje. http://www.tvarka.lt/lt/naujienos/lietuvos-seime/vytautas-kamblevicius-lietuvos-vieta-tautu-europoje. Accessed 6 July 2019.
Unikaitė-Jakuntavičienė, I. (2014). Eurosceptics in Lithuania: On the Margins of Politics? European Quarterly of Political Attitudes and Mentalities, 3(4), 1–21.
Vitkus, G. (2017). Small Is Small: Euroscepticism in Lithuanian Politics. In A. Austers & K. Bukovskis (Eds.), Euroscepticism in the Baltic States: Uncovering Issues, People and Stereotypes (pp. 38–50). Riga: Latvian Institute of International Affairs, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
VRSV. (2019). 2019 m. Europos parlamento rinkimų programa. http://www.radzvilas2019.lt/p/priedas-nr.html. Accessed 7 July 2019.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gudžinskas, L., Bekišas, T. (2020). Lithuania. In: Hloušek, V., Kaniok, P. (eds) The European Parliament Election of 2019 in East-Central Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40858-9_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40858-9_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-40857-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-40858-9
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)