Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Monday that the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) has “clearly won” this past weekend’s parliamentary election, adding that a government formed by centre-left political forces “will be for the better.”
“The Lithuanian Social Democrat Party has clearly won this election,” Nauseda declared during an interview with BNS in Paris. “We can already say that after the first round, and I believe that we’ll be able to say the same after the second round as well.”
The president continued: “A centre-left government will definitely be able to continue our foreign policy, because we have a strong consensus in this regard. When it comes to domestic policy, I believe that there will certainly be changes, but these changes will be for the best.”
President Nauseda spoke after the LSDP won 20 seats in Sunday’s first election round, including two in single-mandate constituencies.
The Social Democrats have already pointed to the Democratic Union for Lithuania, which finished fourth in the first round, as well the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, which barely surpassed the election threshold, as potential coalition partners. The two parties so far have won eight and six seats respectively.
Nauseda predicted for productive co-operation with a new cabinet than with the outgoing government that was led by the conservative Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrat (HU-LCD) alliance.
“We’ve done quite a lot despite some sparring,” the president reminisced. “I didn’t feel much discomfort in foreign policy, because our problems were similar. It seems that their methods and – let’s speak frankly, their sense of arrogance and the belief that they are the only ones who love Lithuania – well, that tripped them up.”
Nauseda was also asked about the fact that the Freedom Party looks likely to lose all of its seats in the Seimas (Parliament) and whether that means that human rights issues will be ignored in future, specifically referring to the issue of same-gender partnerships. Here is what the president had to say:
“When this somewhat hysterical atmosphere settles, we might actually face better conditions for resolving the issue. Maybe not in the way that the Freedom Party and its voters envision, but at least issuing regulations on legal relations between same-gender couples of partners so that they can enjoy the same rights as other citizens and so that there is no need to debate these issues in the public arena anymore.”
“I don’t think that this is an insoluble riddle,” President Nauseda added.
Source: BNS
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