Lithuanians are voting in the first round of elections for the country’s parliament, the Seimas, LRT reports. Under the electoral system, a second round of voting in single-member constituencies where no candidate gets over 50% of votes will take place on 27 October 2024. Altogether 14 parties and 1 coalition of parties listed candidates for…
Over 150 public figures in Lithuania have signed an appeal to President Gitanas Nauseda and political parties, urging them to reject antisemitic politicians, LRT reports. Earlier, top politicians and Jewish community leaders warned of continuing antisemitism in Lithuania, BNS reported. Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte pointed to antisemitic statements by former MP Remigijus Zemaitaitis, leader of…
The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has passed in final reading amendments freezing state funding for political parties for one year, LETA reports. Altogether 88 MPs voted in favour of the amendments. State support for political parties in 2025 will be calculated based on the minimum monthly wage in 2024. Altogether 13 parties received a total…
Estonia’s main opposition party, conservative Fatherland (Isamaa), remains the country’s most popular political party, according to Norstat’s latest poll for the Institute for Societal Research (YI), ERR reports. Fatherland had 28.3% support among voters in the poll taken over August-September 2024, which was largely unchanged from the previous poll three weeks earlier. The ruling Estonian…
Latvia’s opposition United List will not try to topple the current coalition government for now, Edgars Tavars, chairman of the party’s parliamentary group, said, LETA reports. Speaking in an interview with TV3, Tavars noted that Prime Minister Evika Silina’s government had a “slight advantage” of votes in the parliament, the Saeima. Tavars said that United…
Estonia’s liberal opposition party, Right-Wingers (Parempoolsed), has re-elected former prosecutor general Lavly Perling as its chairperson, ERR reports. She was the only candidate to the post. Perling labelled the current three-party government a “coalition of three socialists,” criticising the government’s tax policies. However, all current parliamentary parties had made “baseless promises” and taken part in…
The chairman of Lithuania’s ruling Homeland Union (TS-LKD), Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, has called for talks with the opposition Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (LSDP) over fears about the surge in support for the new far-right party, Dawn of Nemunas, ELTA reports. Speaking in an interview with Ziniu Radijas, Landsbergis warned that the Dawn of…
Some talks have started on a possible candidate for Estonia’s next president in 2026, ERR reports. The president is elected by the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, provided an agreement is reached by a two-thirds majority of MPs. The current three-party ruling coalition is two seats short of the 68 votes needed in the 101-seat parliament….
The Estonian Reform Party’s general assembly has elected Prime Minister Kristen Michal as the party’s new chairman, replacing former prime minister Kaja Kallas, ERR reports. Michal received 664 out of 818 votes. In his acceptance speech, Michal said that Reform’s mission was “a self-reliant people, the growth of prosperity and a strong middle class, security…