(Bloomberg) -- Lithuania’s Social Democratic Party has won parliamentary elections, adding more seats in the second round as the Baltic nation turned to the opposition to deal with economic inequality.
The party will have 52 lawmakers in 141-seat parliament, according to results from the run-off vote in single-mandate constituencies on Sunday. That falls short of an outright majority, paving the way for bargaining among at least three political parties in order to form a lasting government.
The Social Democrats, who won 19.4% of the vote in the first round, have promised to address soaring disparities in the economy. Opposition parties have successfully tapped into discontent among voters living outside relatively affluent cities like the capital Vilnius and have seen their incomes, pensions and social benefits eroded by a period of double-digit inflation.
A return to power for the Social Democrats could see the party’s Chairperson Vilija Blinkeviciute, a former social affairs minister, become prime minister. Currently a lawmaker in the European Parliament, the 64-year-old is credited with raising pensions during her stint in government from 2000 to 2008.
“The election results have shown that the Lithuanian people, no matter where they live — in cities, towns or villages — all want changes,” Blinkeviciute told her supporters on the election night. “They want completely different governance.”
She will to try to form a ruling majority with two other center-left leaning partners including the Union of Democrats For Lithuania and the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union. Still, the plans may be complicated by personal animus between the leaders of the two junior parties.
Blinkeviciute reiterated Monday morning that her party plans no big reforms and will start negotiations to build a center-left alliance. The two junior partners could potentially add enough votes to form a majority, with 74 votes in parliament.
The crushing result for the ruling Homeland Union, which came in second with 28 mandates, pushed Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis to resign as head of the party and to give up his seat in the next parliament. Landsbergis, who also lost the vote in his constituency in the second-largest city of Kaunas, said the vote shows he needs to take a break from politics.
(Updates with voting results in 2nd, Landbsbergis in final paragraph.)
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