Political outline

Executive Power

The President is the chief of state and is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. He/she is also commander in chief overseeing foreign and security policy. The Prime Minister is the head of the government and is appointed by the President on approval of the Parliament (generally leader of the majority party or coalition) to serve a term of four years. The Prime Minister enjoys the executive powers which include implementation of the law in the country and running the day-to-day affairs. The Council of Ministers (cabinet) is appointed by the President on the nomination of the Prime Minister.

Legislative Power

The legislature is unicameral in Lithuania. The Parliament (called Seimas) has a single chamber and consists of 141 seats. Members of the Parliament are elected using a mixed system combining proportional and single constituencies; this means that 71 members are directly elected by popular vote, 70 are elected by proportional representation; all members serve four-year terms. A party must receive at least 5% of the national vote to be represented in the Seimas. The Prime Minister cannot dissolve the Parliament (but President can do so on recommendation of the Parliament) nor can veto its enactment .

Main political parties

Lithuania has a multi-party system in which a single party does not have the chance of gaining power alone. So parties work with each other to form coalition governments. Some of the major parties in the country are:
- LSDP (Social Democratic Party of Lithuania) – advocates social democracy, has communist background.
- VNDS (Peasants and New Democratic Party Union) - an agrarian-conservative political party.
- TS (Homeland Union) – a right-wing conservative political party.
- DP (Labour Party) – advocates globalization and free-market economy in entire Europe; centrist.
- Liberal Democratic Party – a right-of-centre political party.

Current political leaders

President: Dalia GRYBAUSKAITE (since July 2009) – non-partisan
Prime Minister: Andrius KUBILIUS (since 27 November 2008)

Next election dates

Presidential: May 2014
Parliamentary: October 2012 (last elections held in 2008)