Nineteen political parties have plans to run in Lithuania’s general elections in October, while 18 people plan to stand as independent candidates, according to the Central Electoral Commission (VRK).
The registration period for the Seimas elections ended on Monday. Only registered political campaign participants can run for parliament.
A total of 179 candidates nominated by political parties and 18 non-affiliated candidates have been registered as independent participants of the political campaign.
Three new parties are running for parliament seats for the first time: the Democrats “For Lithuania”, founded by former prime minister Saulius Skvernelis, the Dawn of the Nemunas, the party of former MP and presidential candidate Remigijus Žemaitaitis, and the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party.
October’s general elections are the first ones since constitutional amendments allowing people over the age of 21 to run for parliament. Up until now, candidates had to be at least 25.
All future candidates will have until August 9 to submit their application documents. Moreover, independent candidates will also have to collect at least 1,000 signatures from voters in the constituency they wish to stand in.
Lithuania will elect its 141 members of the parliament in two rounds on October 13 and 27. Seventy MPs will be elected from party lists by proportional representation, while the remaining 71 will be picked in single-member constituencies.
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