Currently, political parties need to win at least 5% of the vote in the multi-member electoral constituency in order to be awarded seats in the Seimas. The proposed amendment sees the threshold lowered to 3% for parties representing Lithuania’s ethnic minorities.
Political scientist Mindaugas Jurkynas of Vytautas Magnus University says there is little likelihood that the proposal will get approval at the Seimas.
“The Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania wins seats in the European Parliament and Lithuanian Parliament, so the democratic will is expressed,” Jurkynas told Žinių Radijas. “I think [the party’s leader Valdemar] Tomaševski’s proposal will have no effects, no one will pay any attention to it and there will be no improvements. No one will want to do any changes, because democracy in Lithuania works fine and Mr. Tomaševski has embittered quite many people and has even been thrown out of the coalition.”
Žinių Radijas
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