Lithuanian Seimas Elections: Voters "Punish" Conservatives, Social Democrats Celebrate Landslide Victory

The Social Democrats have won the Lithuanian elections, defeating the centre-right government, as the second round of the Seimas elections ended on Sunday evening. The result came as a surprise to the ruling Conservatives, who were only two seats behind the Social Democrats after the first round.

Lithuania's centre-left opposition parties celebrated today, Monday, after defeating the centre-right ruling coalition in the last round of national elections.

According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), the results have been counted in all single-mandate districts of Lithuania. With 100% of the votes counted in Sunday's election, the Social Democrats won 52 seats in the 141-seat parliament, known as the Seimas, ending the four-year rule of the Homeland Union government led by conservative Prime Minister Ingridas Šimonytė.

The Social Democrats will soon begin negotiations to form a majority cabinet with two smaller centre-left parties: The Democratic Union and the Union of Peasants and Greens, which won 14 and 8 seats respectively. Their coalition is expected to control at least 74 seats.

In turn, Šimonite's Homeland won only 28 seats in two rounds of elections.

Lithuania borders Russia's Kaliningrad exclave to the west and Belarus to the east. The vote comes as Russia's war in Ukraine increases pressure on its neighbours, especially in the strategically important Baltic region.

However, analysts say that there will be no significant changes in Lithuania's foreign policy, as the country is a member of the European Union and NATO and is a strong supporter of Ukraine.

The leader of the Social Democrats, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, thanked her supporters as a crowd celebrated her victory in the centre of Vilnius on Sunday.