Europe and the election of the parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, October 2008

Abstract

Even though it managed to avoid an early dissolution, the 2004-2008 term of office of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania was quite a paradoxical one. In theory, a large number of possible coalition combinations existed (eight parties were elected in 2004). In practice, the possibilities of coalition formation were very limited, and early elections were threatened a number of times. The 2 strategic prelude for the October 2004 Seimas election was the June 2004 European Parliament election. The distribution of votes was almost identical in both elections with the largest number of seats being won by the won newly established populist Labour party. There were suspicions about the party’s ties with top Russian energy circles and a lawsuit was brought against it due to its nontransparent party finances. This litigation was not completed until the end of 2008.