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Freedom Party (Lithuania)

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Freedom Party
Laisvės partija
AbbreviationLP
ChairpersonTomas Vytautas Raskevičius
Vice ChairpeopleTomas Vytautas Raskevičius
Monika Ošmianskienė
Ieva Pakarklytė
Tomas Lekavičius
FoundersAušrinė Armonaitė, Remigijus Šimašius and others
Founded1 June 2019 (2019-06-01)
Split fromLiberal Movement
Membership (2022)3,313
Ideology
Political positionCentre[2][4][5][A]
European affiliationALDE Party
Colours  Pink and   yellow
Seimas
0 / 141
European Parliament
1 / 11
Municipal councils
13 / 1,473
Mayors
0 / 60
Website
www.laisvespartija.lt
^ A: It has also been described as a centre-left[4] and as a centre-right party.[6]

The Freedom Party[7][8] (Lithuanian: Laisvės partija) is a political party in Lithuania, founded on 1 June 2019 by former Liberal Movement member Aušrinė Armonaitė. She was leader from 2019 bis 2024. Acting leader since November 2024 is Vytautas Mitalas.

History

[edit]

The party has its roots in Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius's list "For Vilnius, which we are proud of!", which won the Lithuanian capital's council and mayoral election. In November 2018 Aušrinė Armonaitė announced intentions to found a new party.[9]

By the summer and autumn of 2019, the party established its branches in cities and their surrounding municipalities.[10]

The party was accepted as a full member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in October 2019.[11] The party saw success in 2020 Lithuanian parliamentary election and obtained 11 seats. After this, the party formed a coalition with the Homeland Union and Liberal Movement and delegated three ministers - Armonaitė, Ewelina Dobrowolska and Marius Skuodis - to the Šimonytė Cabinet.

On 11 December 2021, the Freedom Party officially became a full member of the ALDE Party.[12]

Platform

[edit]

The Freedom Party has been described as liberal,[1][2] neoliberal,[13] social liberal,[3] and libertarian.[14]

The party supports LGBT rights,[18] the legalisation of same-sex unions in Lithuania,[14] and has a goal to remove restrictions on the personal use of cannabis in Lithuania.[14]

In regards to economics the party is extremely economically liberal and advocates for policies such as cutting taxes and loosening the labour code.[19]

The party supports European integration and recognizing the statehood of Taiwan (Republic of China) as a country separate from the People's Republic of China, and is strongly opposed to Russian aggression in Ukraine.[20] It supports the European Green Deal.[21]

Within the Šimonytė Cabinet, it criticized its coalition partners, namely the Homeland Union and the Liberal Movement, for insufficient adherence to progressivism, as well as their "left-wing tax policy".[22]

Election results

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Seimas

[edit]
Election Leader Votes[a] % Seats +/– Government
2020 Aušrinė Armonaitė 107,057 9.45 (#5)
11 / 141
 New Coalition
2024 55,845 4.62 (#7)
0 / 141
 Decrease 11 Extra-parliamentary
  1. ^ Proportional representation votes.

European Parliament

[edit]
Election List leader Votes % Seats +/– EP Group
2024 Dainius Žalimas 54,797 8.10 (#4)
1 / 11
 Increase 1 RE

Seimas members (2020–2024)

[edit]
Parliamentarian Previous mandate Current mandate from Constituency
Artūras Žukauskas - 2020 Nationwide
Aušrinė Armonaitė 2016 2020 Lithuanians abroad
Ewelina Dobrowolska - 2020 Nationwide
Ieva Pakarklytė - 2020 Nationwide
Kasparas Adomaitis - 2020 Nationwide
Marius Matijošaitis - 2020 Savanoriai
Monika Ošmianskienė - 2020 Nationwide
Morgana Danielė - 2020 Nationwide
Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius - 2020 Nationwide
Vytautas Mitalas - 2020 Nationwide

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Conservatives top Lithuania's party rankings". Lithuanian National Television and Radio. 2022-07-18. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
  2. ^ a b c "Samoškaitė: How did the Freedom Party indirectly organise the Family Defence March?". Lithuania Tribune. 2022-06-03. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  3. ^ a b "Media Monitoring in Lithuania". The Beacon Project. 2020-10-12. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
  4. ^ a b O'Leary, Naomi (2022-08-03). "Why Lithuania is willing to risk China's fury". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2022-08-27. ...conservative-liberal Liberal Movement, and centre/centre-left Freedom Party when it came to power in 2020.
  5. ^ "Lithuania country profile". BBC. 2022-12-02. Retrieved 2023-01-06. [...] and two centrist groups, the Freedom Party and Liberal Movement.
  6. ^ "Lithuania Has Voted for Change". Konrad Adenauer Foundation. October 2020. Retrieved 2023-01-06. [...] the centre-right parties (TS-LKD, LP, LRLS) voted into the Seimas were reluctant to address the issue of coalition formation.
  7. ^ "New liberal party to be founded in Lithuania". 17 April 2019.
  8. ^ "Home". laisvespartija.lt.
  9. ^ "Konkurentų prognozės gimstančiai naujai partijai".
  10. ^ "Laisvės partija įsteigė Kauno skyrių | KaunoDiena.lt".
  11. ^ https://www.aldeparty.eu/news/alde-welcomes-new-member-parties-1 [dead link‍]
  12. ^ "ALDE Party – Liberals and Democrats for Europe on Facebook". Facebook. Archived from the original on 2022-04-27.[user-generated source]
  13. ^ "Freedom Party Lithuania". Clean Energy Wire.
  14. ^ a b c Kluonis, Mindaugas (30 October 2020). "Lithuania turns right: urban-rural cleavage, generational change, and left-wing perspectives". Foundation for Progressive European Studies (in Lithuanian). Lithuania's young people turned against the ruling party and voted massively for the surprise start-up of these elections, the libertarian Freedom Party (LP), which has openly declared its support for same-sex unions, the reduction of penalties for the possession of marijuana for personal use, and a commitment to remove restrictions in general.
  15. ^ "Vilniuje – LGBT+ bendruomenės eitynės: tikimasi kelių dešimčių tūkstančių dalyvių", alfa.lt
  16. ^ "Laisvės partija smerkia iniciatyvą Klaipėdos rajoną skelbti „zona be LGBTQ+"", 15min.lt
  17. ^ "Gėjų santuokas remia Staševičienė („Laisvė"), partnerystes – Neimantas („Nemuno aušra"), Viskontas (Žaliųjų partija), Balnionienė (LS), o Kubilius (LVŽS) ir Tučkė (LSDP) – prieš, Skritulskas (TS-LKD) – už namų ūkių įteisinimą", palangostiltas.lt
  18. ^ [15][16][17]
  19. ^ Šuliokas, Justinas (21 September 2020). "Who's who in Lithuania's 2020 parliamentary election – explainer". LRT.
  20. ^ "Laisvės partijos 2020 metų Seimo rinkimų programa" (PDF). www.laisvespartija.lt. 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  21. ^ "Laisvės partija". Mano balsas (in Lithuanian). 2024.
  22. ^ "A. Armonaitė believes that the Freedom Party can become a "unicorn"". Made in Vilnius (in Lithuanian). 16 September 2023. As for the coalition partners, I see that the Homeland Union is still looking for itself. On the one hand, rather left-wing tax policy and narratives, on the other - a strong and growing Christian Democrat wing... As for the Liberal Movement, on the one hand, there is a very clear liberal part of the faction, but at the same time, a very conservative and even Christian Democrat part of the Liberal Movement faction in the Seimas. It influences decisions and possibly prevents the implementation of a progressive agenda. In turn, the Freedom Party can be said to be a political force that consistently represents its political position and program.


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