The Ninth Seimas of Lithuania was a parliament (

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (), is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendme ...

) elected in Lithuania.

Elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative ...

took place on 10 October 2004, with the run-off on 24 October. The Seimas commenced its work on 15 November 2004 and served a four-year term, with the last session on 16 November 2008.

Elections

In the elections in 2004, 70 members of the parliament were elected on proportional party lists and 71 in single member constituencies. Elections took place on 10 October 2004. Run-off elections were held on 24 October in the single-seat constituencies where no candidate secured a seat in the first round.

Activities

After the elections,

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

led the coalition together with the

New Union (Social Liberals) The New Union (Social Liberals) ( lt, Naujoji sąjunga (socialliberalai), NS) was a Social liberalism, social-liberal list of political parties in Lithuania, political party in Lithuania. The NS was a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democra ...

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

and Peasants and New Democratic Party Union.

Artūras Paulauskas Artūras Paulauskas (born 23 August 1953 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian politician. He was the Speaker of Seimas, the parliament of Lithuania, from 2000 to 2006, and he served as List of Presidents of Lithuania, Acting President of Lithuania from 6 ...

was reelected as the Speaker of the Ninth Seimas, having served as the Speaker in the previous term. In April 2006 the parliament expressed no confidence in the Speaker and Paulauskas was forced to resign, taking New Union out of the coalition. He was replaced as the Speaker of the Seimas by Viktoras Muntianas of Labor Party, who soon left the party to form Civic Democratic Party. After another disagreement in May 2006, Labor Party joined the opposition. The decision was affected by the decision of the leader of the Party

Viktor Uspaskich Viktor Uspaskich (russian: Виктор Викторович Успасских, lt, Viktoras Uspaskichas; born 24 July 1959) is a Russian-born Lithuanian entrepreneur and politician. Early life He was born in the village of Urdoma, Arkhangel ...

to resign as the Minister of the Economy after being accused of conflicts of interest. Opposition

Liberal and Centre Union The Liberal and Centre Union ( lt, Liberalų ir centro sąjunga, LiCS) was a conservative-liberal political party in Lithuania active between 2003 and 2014. It was a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats ...

joined the minority government that ruled with some support of other opposition parties. At the beginning of 2008 New Union rejoined the coalition. Viktoras Muntianas resigned as the Speaker of the Seimas after a corruption scandal in April 2008 and Česlovas Juršėnas was elected in his stead. This parliament passed legislation for possible introduction of

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

Composition

Parliamentary groups

During the first session of the Seimas the following parliamentary groups were registered: Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (LSDPF), Labour Party (DPF), Liberal and Centre (LCSF), Liberal Democrats (LDF), New Union (NSF), Homeland Union (TSF), Peasant and New Democracy (VNDF, later VLF) and the Mixed Group of Members of the Seimas (MSNG). The term of the Seimas was noted for particularly significant shifts among parliamentary groups. For example, only 20 Social Democrats were elected to the Seimas, but Social Democratic Party political group in the Seimas had 38 members at the end of the term. Parliamentary groups formed during the term included Liberals (LF), Order and Justice Liberal Democrats (TTLDF), Civic Democratic (PDF), as well as Peasant Popular and Civic Democratic (VLPDF) groups. By the end of the term of the Seimas, the following parliamentary groups were active.

Members

A total of 158 members served on the Ninth Seimas.

References

{{Seimas of Lithuania Legal history of Lithuania 21st century in Lithuania 09