MEP aims to lead Lithuania as Social Democrats win first round of election – POLITICO

“The government in Lithuania always loses. Whether social democrats, farmers or conservatives,” Mažvydas Jastramskis, associate professor at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University, said in a post on Facebook.

Jastramskis noted that the Social Democrats (LSDP) could not get “even 20 percent” of the vote and said the party had “failed to dominate” although its result could improve in the second round of voting on October 27, one Runoff election in constituencies with no clear winner. According to LRT, the LSDP could grab up to 37 seats in the second round, while the TS-LKD could grab another 29. The Lithuanian Parliament has 141 seats.

Meanwhile, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda was already expecting an overall victory for the LSDP: “Lithuania’s Social Democrats clearly won the election,” he said for the Baltic News Service news agency.

Blinkevičiūtė has already started coalition negotiations with the Union of Democrats “For Lithuania” and with the Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union, while avoiding the nationalist-populist Dawn of Nemunas, founded last November, which won 15 percent of the vote.

She also confirmed that she was ready to lead the country’s next government, although she would be “sad” to leave the European Parliament, where she has served since 2009.

TS-LKD leader Ingrida Šimonytė, the country’s current prime minister, reacted cautiously to the voting results, saying it was too early to say whether her party would end up in government or opposition.