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| This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Lithuania |
Legislature |
Elections |
Foreign policy |
Parliamentary elections were held in Lithuania on 14 and 28 October 2012, alongside a referendum on the construction of a new power plant. All 141 seats in the Seimas were up for election, 71 of them were filled through a two round race, one from each constituency; the remaining 70, through proportional representation from the results of the first round.
The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party became the largest party in the Seimas and defeated the centre-right coalition of Andrius Kubilius. The Social Democrats announced to form a government coalition with the populist Labour Party and Order and Justice. President Dalia Grybauskaitė, however, refuses to appoint a government with participation of the Labour Party due to allegations of electoral fraud.
Opinion polls
| Party | 2008 elections | Opinion Polls (Conducted by Delfi.lt) | (by Vilmorus) | (Delfi.lt) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seats | % | Mar 2012 | Apr 2012 | May 2012 | Jun 2012 | Jul 2012 | Sep 2012 | Sep 2012 | Oct 2012 | |
| TS-LKD | 45 | 19.6 | 8.2 | 7.7 | 7.2 | 8.5 | 7.7 | 7.6 | 12.3 | 7.9 |
| TT | 15 | 12.7 | 9.0 | 10.4 | 9.3 | 11.2 | 9.4 | 9.5 | 13.9 | 8.2 |
| LSDP | 25 | 11.8 | 12.0 | 14.1 | 13.6 | 14.2 | 17.9 | 16.3 | 23.4 | 16.9 |
| DP | 10 | 9.0 | 14.8 | 12.6 | 12.3 | 13.3 | 16.9 | 14.5 | 21.1 | 15.8 |
| LRLS | 11 | 5.7 | 7.2 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 6.1 | 5.2 | 4.8 | 5.3 | 5.8 |
| LiCS | 8 | 5.3 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 2.6 |
| LLRA | 3 | 4.8 | – | – | – | – | 1.7 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 2.8 |
| LVŽS | 3 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 2.4 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 3.2 | 2.3 | 3.5 | 2.7 |
| TAIP | new | – | 5.0 | 4.2 | 3.9 | 4.5 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 1.5 | 2.7 |
| Way of Courage | new | – | – | – | – | 3.5 | 1.6 | 3.7 | 6.5 | 3.9 |
| Other parties | – | – | – | 2.9 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 1.1 | ? | 1.7 |
| Won't vote | – | – | – | 28.4 | 30.2 | 25.0 | 20.2 | 22.6 | 11.6 | 21.3 |
| Not sure | – | – | – | 10.6 | 11.6 | 9.7 | 10.8 | 9.8 | 26 | 7.7 |
Note: The National Resurrection Party (16 seats) merged into the Liberal and Center Union in 2011. The New Union (Social Liberals) (1 seat) merged into the Labour Party during the same year. Additionally, four seats are held independent candidates.
Result
| Party | Proportional | Constituency seats | Total seats | +/– | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | ||||
| Social Democrats | 251,610 | 18.37 | 15 | 23 | 38 |  13 |
| Homeland Union | 206,590 | 15.08 | 13 | 20 | 33 |  12 |
| Labour Party | 271,520 | 19.82 | 17 | 12 | 29 | 19 |
| Order and Justice | 100,120 | 7.31 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 4 |
| Liberal Movement | 117,476 | 8.57 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 1 |
| Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania | 79,840 | 5.83 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 5 |
| The Way of Courage | 109,448 | 7.99 | 7 | – | 7 | New |
| Peasant and Greens Union | 53,141 | 3.88 | – | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Liberal and Centre Union | 28,263 | 2.06 | – | – | – | 8 |
| YES | 24,129 | 1.76 | – | – | – | New |
| Socialist People's Front | 16,515 | 1.21 | – | – | – |  |
| Christian Party | 16,494 | 1.20 | – | – | – | New |
| For Lithuania in Lithuania | 12,854 | 0.94 | – | – | – | New |
| Young Lithuania | 8,632 | 0.63 | – | – | – | |
| Democratic Labour and Unity Party | 4,383 | 0.32 | – | – | – | New |
| Emigrants Party | 4,015 | 0.29 | – | – | – | New |
| Republican Party | 3,661 | 0.27 | – | – | – | New |
| Lithuanian People's Party | 3,399 | 0.25 | – | – | – | New |
| Independents | – | – | – | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Invalid/blank votes | 57,924 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 1,370,014 | 100 | 70 | 70 (1 to go) | 140 | – |
| Registered voters/turnout | 2,588,418 | 52.93 | – | – | – | – |
| Source: VRK | ||||||
Reactions
Following the elections, the winning Social Democrat party proposed forming a government coalition with the Labour Party and Order and Justice. President Dalia Grybauskaitė said she could not accept the Labour Party as part of the government, as the party had allegedly committed electoral fraud and party leader Viktor Uspaskich has been under suspicion of illicit party financing. The Lithuanian electoral office as well as prosecution authorities have claimed that two Labour Party members had purchased votes. Outgoing prime minister Andrius Kubilius of the Conservatives Homeland Union presented his party as an alternative coalition partner and appeared ready for negotiations with the Social Democrats. However, the leader of the Social Democrats, Algirdas Butkevičius, planned no talks with Kubilius.
In total, the police has investigated 27 cases of possible irregularities, including 18 suspected cases of vote buying. Most of them incriminate the Labour Party. Labour Party leader Uspaskich denounced the allegations as politically motivated and warned that no one should disrespect the popular choice. On 31 October, the designated prime minister Butkevičius confirmed to uphold on the Social Democrats' plan to form a coalition with the Labour Party and Order and Justice, under possible participation of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania.
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