Lithuania
The story
Lithuania's party system resembles Latvia's — highly fluid, prone to mergers, slow to develop stable ideological identities. Many parties here could be called populist, but most have had limited support and even less lasting influence. Order and Justice (TT), founded in 2002, was the most durable radical-right party, national conservative and right-leaning, and was a junior government partner from 2012 to 2016 and briefly rejoined an expanded coalition in 2019 before an internal split dissolved it entirely by 2020.
2003-2024 · THE LABOUR PARTY
Founded in 2003 by Russian-born businessman Viktor Uspaskich, the Labour Party (DP) won around 28% in 2004 and became Lithuania’s most successful populist party. It combined centrist, interventionist policies with anti-establishment rhetoric and was seen as relatively sympathetic to Russia. Support swung sharply, reaching over 20% in 2012. Scandals and splits followed, and in 2024 its Peace Coalition won only 2.2%, leaving it out of parliament.
2023-2026 · DAWN OF NEMUNAS
Remigijus Žemaitaitis founded Dawn of Nemunas (NA) in 2023. In 2024 he was forced to leave parliament after the Constitutional Court ruled that his antisemitic statements violated his oath. It won about 15% and 20 seats in 2024 and joined a Social Democratic-led government despite protests. It mixes left-leaning economics with nationalism and social conservatism, is softly eurosceptic and cautious on Ukraine. The coalition broke down in June 2026 after disputes over a military training area and Žemaitaitis’s conviction for inciting hatred against Jews and trivialising the Holocaust.
2024-2026 · POLICY AND FOREIGN POSITIONS
Dawn of Nemunas is anti-establishment and centred on its leader. It criticises Brussels but does not seek EU exit, and some of its representatives opposed sanctions and trade restrictions on Russia and Belarus. Its time in government was marked by growing tension over security policy. The Social Democrats expelled it, citing radicalisation and obstruction, and a new government without it took office in July 2026.
2020- · NATIONAL ALLIANCE
The National Alliance (NS), founded in 2020, combines Lithuanian nationalism, social conservatism, restrictive immigration policy and euroscepticism. Unlike Dawn of Nemunas, it is strongly anti-Russian and firmly Western in orientation. It won 2.9% in 2024, below the five-percent threshold, but Vytautas Sinica won a constituency seat in Vilnius, giving the party its first parliamentary representation.
EP elections
TT sat in three different EP groups — UEN, EFD and EFDD — between 2004 and 2019 before disappearing. DP was part of ALDE from 2004 to 2021, when its whole delegation left Renew Europe following leader Viktor Uspaskich's expulsion over homophobic comments.
NA
Dawn of Nemunas
- Economics Left
- Social issues Conservative
- EU Soft euroscepticism
- Authoritarianism Medium