COUNTRY	Republic of Lithuania
ELECTION TYPE	Parliamentary
DATE	October 10, 2004

• 141 seats in Parliament (Seimas).

• Chief of State: President Valdas ADAMKUS
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Algirdas Mykolas BRAZAUSKAS
• Assembly: Lithuania has a unicameral Parliament (Seimas) which consist of 141 seats.

• The president is elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms.
• Of the 141 members of Parliament, 71 are directed by popular vote while the remaining 70 members are elected via proportional representation. All members of the Seimas serve four-year terms.

Note: Currently several political parties are negotiating possible coalitions prior to the elections.

• Party: Labor Party (DP)
  Leader: Viktor USPASKICH
  Seats won in last election: 0
  
  
• Bloc:“For Work for Lithuania”
  Leader: Algirdas BRAZAUSKAS and Arturas PAULAUSKAS
  Seats won in last election: 82*

*Note: In the 2000 elections the Social Democratic Coalition consisted of the Lithuanian Democratic Labor Party (LDDP) and the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP). Under Algirdas BRAZAUSKAS, this coalition won 53 seats. Also in the 2000 elections Arturas PAULAUSKAS led New Union-Social Liberals and won 29 seats.

• Bloc: Liberal and Central Union (LiCs)**
  Leaders: Arturas ZUOKAS, Kestutis GLAVECKAS, Petras AUSTREVICIUS
  Seats won in last election: 34

**Note: After the 2000 election, the Liberal Union of Lithuania (LLS) which secured 34 seats in the last election, merged with the Centre Union of Lithuania (LCS) which had 2 seats and the Modern Christian-Democratic Union to create the Liberal and Central Union (LiCs) bloc.

• Party: Homeland Union – Lithuanian Conservative Party (TS)
  Leader: Andrius KUBILIUS
  Seats won in last election: 9
  
  
• Party: Lithuanian Peasant’s Party (LVP)
  Leader: Ramunas KARBAUSKIS
  Seats won in last election: 4
  
  
• Party: Peasant and New Democracy Party
  Leader: Kazimiera PRUNSKIENE
  Seats won in last election: 2

• The last parliamentary elections were held on October 8, 2000.

• Population: 3,607,899 (July 2004 estimate)
• Number of registered voters: 2,659,215 (Based on the 2004 presidential elections.)

• In order to be represented in the Seimas via proportional representation, a party must secure at least 5% of the valid votes.
• The reputation of the Seimas has suffered a steep decline due to recent corruption scandals. In a recent poll, only 16% of Lithuanians expressed trust in the Seimas.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: IFES ELECTIONGUIDE ONLINE