Lithuania is a democracy in which political rights and civil liberties are generally respected. Chronic problems including corruption and socioeconomic inequality often arouse public dissatisfaction with the government, political parties, and other institutions. Women, LGBT+ people, members of the Romany, Jewish, Muslim, Russian, and Polish minorities, and some other groups experience varying degrees of discrimination and underrepresentation in politics.

• Centrist independent candidate Gitanas Nausėda was reelected to a second term as president in May, securing 75 percent of the vote in a runoff against Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, who was nominated by the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD). The election was held in accordance with democratic standards, and stakeholders accepted the results.
• Elections to the unicameral, 141-seat Seimas were held in October. The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) emerged as the winner, securing 52 seats, followed by the TS-LKD, which took 28 (down from the 50 it won in the last elections). The newly formed political party Nemuno Aušra (Dawn of Nemunas, or PPNA), placed third, winning 20 seats; smaller parties and several independent candidates won the remaining seats. The Seimas elections were held in accordance with democratic standards, and stakeholders accepted the results.
• In November, a coalition government headed by the LSDP and including PPNA and the Union of Democrats “For Lithuania” (DSVL) was formed, with LSDP representative Gintautas Paluckas assuming office as prime minister.
• In December, the Constitutional Court struck down a law prohibiting minors from accessing information that “denigrates family values and promotes a different concept of marriage and family formation” from that enshrined in the Constitution and civil code. (Both documents define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.) The court found that the law violated Article 25 of the constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression and the right to seek, receive, and share information, as well as Article 38, which upholds the family as the foundation of society and protects family, motherhood, fatherhood, and childhood.

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For additional background information, see last year’s full report.