Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
in the 1990s, which claimed to be
social-democratic
Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
. The youth organization of LDDP was called Lithuanian Labourist Youth Union (''Lietuvos leiboristų jaunimo unija'').
History
The party traced its roots to December 1989, when the Communist Party of Lithuania broke away from the main party. CPL (independent) (as it became known after formation of (CPL (CPSU)) took part in
1990 Lithuanian Supreme Soviet election
Supreme Soviet elections were held in the Lithuanian SSR on 24 February with run-off elections on 4, 7, 8 and 10 March 1990 to elect the 141 members of the Supreme Soviet. In six constituencies, voter turnout was below the required minimum and a ...
Algirdas Brazauskas
Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas (, 1932 – 2010) was the first President (fourth overall) of a newly re-independent post-Soviet Lithuania from 1993 to 1998 and Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006.
He also served as head of the Communist Party of Li ...
became Deputy Prime Minister of Lithuania in Prunskienė Cabinet.
By the autumn of 1990 there were several party's name proposals (etc. ''Lietuvos socialistų partija'' (Socialist Pary of Lithuania), ''Lietuvos socialinės pažangos partija'' (Social Advancement Party of Lithuania), ''Lietuvos komunistų partija'' (Communist Party of Lithuania), ''Lietuvos demokratinė darbo partija'' (Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania)). In December 1990, the main body of the CPL reorganized as the DLPL.
By the late winter of 1992, the party overtook Sąjūdis as the most supported political party in Lithuania. The LDDP won the 1992 parliamentary election, gaining 43% of the vote giving it 73 seats in the Seimas. It is the best results for any political party in Lithuanian parliamentary election up to this date. LDDP was led by
Algirdas Brazauskas
Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas (, 1932 – 2010) was the first President (fourth overall) of a newly re-independent post-Soviet Lithuania from 1993 to 1998 and Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006.
He also served as head of the Communist Party of Li ...
Adolfas Šleževičius
Adolfas Šleževičius (2 February 1948 – 6 December 2022) was a Lithuanian politician who served as Prime Minister from 1993 to 1996.
Previously a manager in a state dairy company, Šleževičius was appointed Prime Minister following the el ...
became the party leader and the Prime Minister. After Šleževičius was charged with corruption in 1996, he was replaced by
Česlovas Juršėnas
Česlovas Juršėnas (born 18 May 1938CV at Seimas website ) is a .
In 1996 parliamentary election, LDDP got about 9.5% of the votes and won 10 seats in the parliament. In next few years party's support remained the same. The party remained the main opposition party in Seimas, although its member and former Prime Minister Laurynas Mindaugas Stankevičius was Minister of Heath in Vagnorius Cabinet between 1998 and 1999. Prior 2000 parliamentary election LDDP formed a coalition with the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, the New Democracy Party and the Union of the Russians of Lithuania. Electoral coalition was named after Algirdas Brazauskas and it won majority of the votes. In this coalition, parties formed joint list in nationwide constituency, but in single-member constituencies coalition stood only one candidate per one constituency. It was persisted to avoid vote splitting. In the elections LDDP came with 26 seats (the largest number of seats among coalition's parties and third largest number of seats in the parliament).
In 2001, LDDP merged with the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party to form the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (Lithuanian: ''Lietuvos socialdemokratų partija'').
Popular support
In the first half of 1990s, LDDP had around twenty per cent support nationally. This support was not uniform – mainly the party had largest support in large cities with large factories and Russian speaking communities (e. g. Klaipėda). The only exception of large cities was
Kaunas
Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
, where Sąjūdis (and later the Homeland Union) had greater support. In rural areas party's support came from districts with developed industry (e. g. Kelmė district).
As Lithuania became a service economy in the late 1990s, the party's support declined to ten per cent. The other loss of voters came from parties representing Russian speakers (e. g. Union of the Russians of Lithuania). Also, the LDDP lost support to the New Union (Social Liberals).