Lithuania » Politics

Since Lithuania declared independence on March 11, 1990, it has kept strong democratic traditions. In the first general elections after the independence on 25 October 1992, 56.25% of the total number of voters supported the new constitution. Drafting the constitution was a long and complicated process.

The role of the President fueled the most heated debates. Drawing from the interwar experiences, politicians made many different proposals ranging from strong parliamentarism to the United States' model. Eventually a compromise semi-presidential system was agreed upon. The Lithuanian head of state is the President, elected directly for a five-year term; he or she may serve a maximum of two consecutive terms.

The judges of the Constitutional Court (Konstitucinis Teismas), who serve for nine year terms, are appointed by the President (three judges), the Chairman of the Seimas (three judges) and the chairman of the Supreme Court (three judges).

Algirdas Brazauskas led broadly centre-left governments from mid-2001 (re-elected November 2004) until he resigned as Prime Minister in June 2006. Intense inter-Party negotiations then led to a minority coalition government under former Minister of National Defence Gedminias Kirkilas being approved by the Parliament on 19 July 2006. Kirkilas' government includes Ministers from his own Social Democratic Party, the Farmers' Party, and the Liberal Centrist Party.

European Budget Commissioner, Dalia Grybauskaite won the presidential elections in Lithuania  on 18th May to become Baltic country’s first female head of state. Grybauskaite  who ran as an independent candidate won the elections easily with 69.05 percent of the votes. She served as a finance minister before and has no political associations. Grybauskaite is due to take over her responsibilities from 12th July when the current President Valdas Adamkus retires.