The political framework of Lithuania

Political Outline

Current Political Leaders: President: Gitanas NAUSEDA (since 12 July 2019)
Prime Minister: Ingrida SIMONYTE (since 24 November 2020)
Next Election Dates: Presidential: May 2024
Parliamentary: October 2024
Main Political Parties: Lithuania has a multi-party system in which a single party usually does not have a chance of gaining power alone. Parties often work together to form coalition governments. The major parties in the parliament include:

- Farmers and Green Union (LPGU): centrist agrarian
- Homeland Union - Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD): centre-right, nationalist
- Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP): centre-left, progressive, oldest party
- Liberal Movement of the Republic of Lithuania (LRLS): centre-right
- Freedom Party (TT): centre, liberalism
- Labour Party (DP): centre, promotes social liberalism
- Lithuanian Green Party (LŽP): green politics
- Lithuanian Centre Party (LCP): centre, nationalist
- Electoral Action of Polls in Lithuania: conservatist, polish minority interest
- Lithuanian List (LL): centre
Executive Power: The President is the chief of state and is elected by popular vote for a five-year term renewable once. He/she is also the commander in chief overseeing foreign and security policy. The Prime Minister is the head of the government and is appointed by the President on approval of the Parliament (generally is the leader of the majority party or coalition) to serve a term of four years. The Prime Minister enjoys the executive powers which include implementation of the law in the country and running the day-to-day affairs. The Council of Ministers (cabinet) is appointed by the President on the nomination of the Prime Minister.
Legislative Power: The legislature is unicameral in Lithuania. The Parliament (called Seimas) has a single chamber and consists of 141 seats. Members of the Parliament are elected using a mixed system combining proportional and single constituencies; this means that 71 members are directly elected by popular vote and 70 are elected by proportional representation; all members serve four-year terms. A party must receive at least 5% of the national vote to be represented in the Seimas. The Prime Minister cannot dissolve the Parliament (but the President can do so on the recommendation of the Parliament) nor can veto its enactment.

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).

World Rank:: 28/180

Indicator of Political Freedom

Definition

Definition:

The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.