| Vytautas Landsbergis lost the Lithuanian elections Algirdas Brazauskas, the communist leader of Soviet Lithuania and the first president of post-Soviet Lithuania, returned to big politics. In Sunday's parliamentary elections, the left-wing Social Democratic coalition led by Brazauskas won a landslide victory, winning 50 seats in the new Sejm. It is followed by the “Union of Liberals” (26-27 seats), “New Union” (26 seats). The conservative party of Vytautas Landsbergis, which until now was the ruling party and in this capacity persistently carried out various anti-Russian decisions through the Sejm, managed to remain among the parliamentary parties, but now it has only nine seats instead of 70. But the biggest sensation was the complete fiasco of the “Union of the Center” “, a year ago, was considered one of the most influential political forces: if not for the single-member constituencies, where the centrists took three votes, they would not have made it into the Sejm at all. Their leader Romualdas Ozolas could not bear the shock and announced his resignation as party chairman.
No party can form a parliamentary majority, which means the search for allies is inevitable. The left believes that in terms of ideology they are close to the “New Union” (socialist liberals) of Arturas Paulauskas, but he continues to associate himself with the liberals. This means that when nominating a candidate for prime minister, the president will have to choose between left and right. That is, should they appoint their predecessor Brazauskas or the leader of the liberal bloc. If the “New Union” and the “Union of Liberals” form a coalition, then they will be in the majority and will be able to claim that the post of prime minister will be taken by their nominee - liberal Rolandas Paksas, the current mayor of Vilnius, or socialist liberal Arturas Paulauskas. But the prospects for such an alliance are vague; in any case, the main ideologist of the liberals, Alvydas Medalinskas, swore on the eve of the elections that his party could have nothing in common with the socialist liberals. In the end, it is possible that liberals will make peace with their natural like-minded people - conservatives. Especially if Vytautas Landsbergis leaves this party, who has recently made another series of hints that he is preparing to retire and is looking for a successor. However, the issue of forming a government will most likely drag on until December, and a lot can happen during this period. Zhanna DOBROVOLSKAYA, Vilnius |
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