Union of Democrats "For Lithuania"

Union of Democrats "For Lithuania"
Demokratų sąjunga „Vardan Lietuvos“
AbbreviationDSVL
ChairpersonSaulius Skvernelis
Vice ChairpeopleLinas Kukuraitis
Rima Baškienė
Ausma Miškinienė
Darius Jasaitis
Lukas Savickas
Tomas Tomilinas
Vytautas Bakas
Domas Griškevičius
Founded29 January 2022 (2022-01-29)
Split fromLithuanian Farmers and Greens Union
MembershipDecrease 3,368 (2022)
Ideology
Political positionCentre-left[7]
European affiliationEuropean Green Party (since 2024)
Colours  Blue
Seimas
15 / 141
European Parliament
1 / 11
Municipal councils
124 / 1,498
Mayors
5 / 60
Website
www.demokratai.lt

The Union of Democrats "For Lithuania" (Lithuanian: Demokratų sąjunga „Vardan Lietuvos“; DSVL) is a centre-left and green[2][8] Lithuanian political party founded on 29 January 2022 by Saulius Skvernelis, former Prime Minister of Lithuania.[9] The party is moderately socially conservative.[2]

Most of the party's members are former members of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union. The party's name "For Lithuania" (Lithuanian: Vardan Lietuvos, literally In Lithuania's Name) is a reference to the final line of the national anthem of Lithuania, Tautiška giesmė. The Union of Democrats became a member of the European Green Party and ran in the 2024 European Parliament election in Lithuania, winning one seat to the European Parliament.[10] The party campaigns on environmental issues as well as redistributive socioeconomic policies.[11]

  1. ^ a b "Lithuania". Europe Elects. 2024-06-09. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  2. ^ a b c d Tracevičiūtė, Roberta. "Be intrigos – vedliu nauja partija pasirinko S.Skvernelį". 15min.lt.
  3. ^ "Paaiškėjo įsteigtos Demokratų sąjungos "Vardan Lietuvos" valdymo organų nariai". www.lrytas.lt.
  4. ^ [2][3]
  5. ^ Greblikas, Laurynas (14 June 2024). "European Elections in Lithuania: Post-election Analysis". The Lithuanian Green Party and the Union of Democrats "For Lithuania" both position themselves as centre-left parties with a focus on environmental issues.
  6. ^ Seputyte, Milda (19 August 2024). "Lithuanian Leader's Power Play Roils Politics Ahead of Election". Bloomberg L.P. The turmoil comes at a sensitive political moment, with Homeland Union trailing — with less than 10% — both the Social Democrats, who have 18% support, and the center-left Union of Democrats "For Lithuania," with 11%, according to a Baltijos Tyrimai poll published last month.
  7. ^ [1][5][6]
  8. ^ Pankūnas, Gytis (2021-10-19). "Left-wing, yet nationalist. Former PM's new party may stir up Lithuanian politics". lrt.lt. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  9. ^ Viluckas, BNS , Paulius. "Steigiama Demokratų sąjunga "Vardan Lietuvos", pirmininku išrinktas ekspremjeras S. Skvernelis". vz.lt.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference lrt1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Greblikas, Laurynas (14 June 2024). "European Elections in Lithuania: Post-election Analysis".