By Andrius Sytas
VILNIUS (Reuters) – The opposition Social Democrats claimed victory in Lithuania’s parliamentary election on Sunday, which was dominated by frustration with the cost of living and worries over potential threats from neighbouring Russia.
The left-leaning grouping has pledged to maintain the Baltic state’s hefty defence spending programme, while criticising the centre-right coalition government of Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte over raising taxes to fund it.
Official government data showed the centre-left grouping leading with 52 seats in the 141-member assembly, after 99% of the vote was counted. The ruling Homeland Union Party was on track to take second place with 28 seats.
The Baltic country of 2.9 million people has a hybrid voting system in which half of parliament was elected by popular vote on Oct. 13. The remainder was decided on Sunday in district-based run-off votes between the top two candidates, a process that favours the larger parties.
SD leader Vilija Blinkeviciute told reporters she believed her party would have a parliamentary majority alongside its likely coalition partners: For Lithuania, plus The Farmers and Greens Union.
“The results of this election showed that the Lithuanian people, no matter where they live, in large cities, in small cities or villages, they want change.”
She declined to confirm whether she would seek the job of prime minister: “We will discuss this within the party, we will weigh all pluses and minuses.”
The For Lithuania party was on track to win 14 seats in the parliament and The Farmers and Greens Union was getting eight seats, provisional official data showed.
Simonyte’s centre-right three-party coalition has seen its popularity eroded by inflation that topped 20% two years ago, deteriorating public services and a widening rich-poor gap.
Domestic economic issues were in focus during the election campaign, with the SD vowing to tackle increased inequality by raising taxes on wealthier Lithuanians to help fund more spending on healthcare and social support.
But national security is also a major concern in Lithuania, which lies on the eastern flank of NATO and the European Union and shares a border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus, a close Moscow ally.
Lithuania will spend about 3% of GDP on its armed forces this year, according to NATO estimates, making it the military alliance’s sixth-biggest spender.
“For me, it’s of utmost importance to keep the calmness, and to stop the war in Ukraine,” said Mykolas Zvinys, 79, before casting his vote on the outskirts of Vilnius.
Three-quarters of Lithuanians think Russia could attack their country in the near future, a Baltijos Tyrimai/ELTA opinion poll found in May, following its attack on Ukraine in 2022.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas and Janis Laizans; Editing by Helen Popper, Frances Kerry and Lisa Shumaker)
