| Government is being formed in Lithuania Yesterday in Lithuania, with a low voter turnout, the second round of parliamentary elections took place. In the first round on October 10, 70 people entered the Sejm on party lists. And in single-mandate constituencies (71 seats), only five managed to collect the minimum votes required for victory. Yesterday, 66 members of the Sejm were required to be elected in single-mandate constituencies.
The first round showed that the hope of the leader of the Labor Party (TP) Viktor Uspaskich (it is noteworthy that this wealthy businessman by origin is not Lithuanian, but Russian) to become an absolute leader (that is, to receive at least 71 votes out of 141) is unrealistic: his opponents from the left and the right flanks achieved better results than the pre-election ratings showed. And immediately these traditional parties began to negotiate to prevent the “troublemaker” Uspaskich from coming to power and leaving him in the opposition. There was even an idea of forming a “rainbow” government - from two left and two right parties.
The complexity of the situation for Uspaskich is that he himself limited the choice of allies, declaring in advance that he would not form a bloc with supporters of President Rolandas Paksas, overthrown on April 6. Therefore, he can only count on the support of Kazimira Prunskienė's coalition, which has only five seats. And even with a good result in the second round, he will not be able to create a coalition capable of ensuring an advantage. And therefore, the president may well entrust the formation of a government without TP.
Uspaskich could come to an agreement with the left wing - the coalition of Algirdas Brazauskas (Prime Minister) and Arturas Paulauskas (Speaker of the Sejm). But what matters here is who heads the government. Brazauskas has repeatedly said that he will remain in politics only as prime minister. Uspskikh himself applied for this post, although now he still declares his readiness to fade into the background.
So, Viktor Uspskikh will either be “tamed”, as Paulauskas was in his time, or the fate of Paksas will await him. Political scientists are predicting “troubled times” for Lithuania: if the cabinet turns out to be heterogeneous in composition, it will be difficult to develop a unified course. Especially when such influential forces as TP and Paxas supporters are in the opposition. Vladimir SKRIPOV, Vilnius |
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