Gintautas Paluckas, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (LSDP), lost the run-off vote in his single-member constituency after a recount gave a 5-ballot lead to his conservative opponent Edmundas Pupinis.
On Sunday night, the Central Electoral Commission reported a tie between the two candidates in the Utena single-member constituency, with each getting 7,075 votes.
Read more: Two Lithuanian candidates tied after receiving exact same number of votes
The commission then did a recount and added several mail-in ballots that it said had been missing from the initial tally.
In the final count, Paluckas got 7,701 votes, while Pupinis got 7,076, the commission said on Tuesday.
However, the social democrat leader has secured a seat in the Lithuanian parliament, Seimas, as part of his party's list in the multi-member constituency.
In all, the LSDP has won 13 seats in the 141-member parliament and will remain in the opposition. The conservative Homeland Union (TS-LKD) won the election with 50 seats and is negotiating a government coalition with two liberal parties.
The election is seen as an upset for the social democrats, who won 17 seats in the 2016 vote, and for Paluckas personally. He unsuccessfully ran for the mayorship of Vilnius in 2019 and in Seimas by-election that same year.
This will be his first term as MP. Pupinis served in the Seimas in 2004–2012 and again since 2016.
Read more: Conservatives seal victory in Lithuania's run-off elections




