Politics in Lithuania: Introduction
Lithuania is a democratic country since 1990. Its directly
elected president may be its best known and most popular
politician, but the real power is vested in Seimas
(parliament) and the government. Lithuania is a unitary
country, its municipalities controlling only minor local
affairs.
Ideologically Lithuania is divided along several lines: leftist
vs. rightist economic viewpoints; pro-Western vs. pro-Local
vs. pro-Eastern value systems; authoritarian vs. libertarian
opinions about personal freedoms. Moreover, a significant
part of locals proudly lacks an opinion on these matters and
claims to be "apolitical".
Lithuanian political parties range from "ideological" ones
contesting every election (the Homeland Union,
Socialdemocrats, Liberals) to sometimes ephemeral
"personal" ones created, merged and folded at will by
famous star politicians whose names become eponymous
to such parties.
Lithuanian foreign policy aims to integrate with Western
Europe into a tight European Union and keep friendly
relations with USA (the "leader of NATO"). Much of this is
to repulse Russia, seen as a threat because of the
occupations and Genocide it perpetrated. Lithuania also
seeks to consolidate Central and Eastern Europe, help the
region (and itself) become completely independent of
Russia and more Western-oriented. Lithuanian military is
aimed to help Western allies in their battles elsewhere to
secure their help should Lithuania be attacked.
Lithuanian law is largely modeled after that of continental
Central Europe, although it differs on some key matters.
The tax system in Lithuania is characterized by a relatively
high tax burden, especially labor taxes.
Political system of Lithuania
According to the explanation by its constitutional court,
Lithuania is a democratic parliamentary republic with
elements of a semi-presidential republic. This means the
parliament “Seimas” is the most powerful institution and
the government is selected by the parliament. Seimas is
elected by two different systems: 70 seats elected by
proportional representation akin to the Italian system and
the remaining 71 are elected in separate constituencies
similarly to the British or US parliament.
The president (directly elected) is always a moral authority
and his or her popularity almost never drops below 50%
whoever he or she would be. Perhaps this is so because the
president has little real power so any shortcomings could
be easily blamed on the government or the parliament
(these two institutions are always unpopular, whichever
party would be in power).
60 municipalities (population 4000 to 550000) are
Lithuania's primary administrative divisions; their directly-
elected councils and mayors are responsible for local
affairs. Lithuania is not a federation, however, so municipal
powers are limited.
All other institutions (among them whole judiciary) are
appointed rather than elected. Referendums are rare.
Since 2004, European Union has been able to legislate in
Lithuania over more and more issues, effectively taking a
part of sovereignty away from Lithuania. Lithuania is
represented by its delegates in various EU institutions,
including the EU Parliament, however, it has little influence
there compared to the larger countries.