View source for Liberal Union of Lithuania

{{Short description|Political party in Lithuania}}
{{Infobox political party
| name = Liberal Union of Lithuania
| native_name = Lietuvos liberalų sąjunga
| logo = LLS logo.svg
| logo_size = 
| colorcode = {{party color|Liberal Union of Lithuania}}
| position = [[Center (politics)|Centre]]
| ideology = {{nowrap|[[Liberalism]]<br />[[Classical liberalism]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SRwa9iGlPnwC&q=Paulauskas&pg=PA190|title=Die politischen Systeme Osteuropas|year=2010|publisher=Springer-Verlag|access-date=2023-01-19|pages=62, 190|isbn=9783531162010 }}</ref><br />[[Populism]] (under Paksas)<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://gpop.scholar.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf3721/files/gpop/files/throwing_out_the_bums.pdf|title=Throwing Out The Bums: Protest Voting and Unorthodox Parties after Communism|journal=World Politics|volume=62|number=2|date=April 2010|author=Grigore Pop-Eleches|access-date=2024-10-17|pages=231|doi=10.1017/s0043887110000043}}</ref>}}
| headquarters = 
| website = 
| country = Lithuania
| leader1_title =
| leader1_name = 
| founded =  25 November 1990
| youth_wing = 
| split = [[Sąjūdis]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ie1ADgAAQBAJ&dq=homeland+union+lithuania&pg=PT93|title=Post-Communist EU Member States – Parties and Party Systems|year=2017|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9781351909709 |access-date=2023-01-11}}</ref>
| merged = [[Liberal and Centre Union]]
| abbreviation = LLS
| dissolved = 31 May 2003
}}
{{Politics of Lithuania}}
The '''Liberal Union of Lithuania''' ({{Langx|lt|Lietuvos liberalų sąjunga (LLS)}}) was a [[liberalism|liberal]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parties-and-elections.de/lithuania.html|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040804174655/http://www.parties-and-elections.de/lithuania.html|archivedate=4 August 2004|title=Lithuania|last=Nordsieck|first=Wolfram|website=Parties and Elections in Europe|access-date=28 May 2019}}</ref> [[list of political parties in Lithuania|political party]] in [[Lithuania]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.delfi.lt/a/76018071|title=Liberalų istorija: nepasimokė patys, ant to paties grėblio lipa ir kiti|last=Tvaskienė|first=Jurga|website=DELFI|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lrt.lt/naujienos/tavo-lrt/15/149141/g-nauseda-norint-pavadinti-a-zuoka-liberalu-reikia-daug-fantazijos|title=G. Nausėda: norint pavadinti A. Zuoką liberalu, reikia daug fantazijos|trans-title=G. Nausėda: To call A. Zuokas a liberal, a lot of fantasy is needed |date=2016-09-22|website=Lietuvos Radijas ir Televizija|language=lt|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref>

==History==
The party was founded on the 25th of November, 1990 on a basis of the [[Vilnius University]] Liberal Club. Its first leader was Vilnius University philosophy professor [[Vytautas Radžvilas]]. In the [[1992 Lithuanian parliamentary election|1992 parliamentary election]], the Liberal Union got 1.51 percent of votes and failed to win any seats. In January 1993 the party congress agreed upon declaration, which stated that the party would position itself [[Right-wing politics|on the right]]. In 1994 the party's membership grew. Most of these new members were either former politicians (e. g. former Moderates Movement's leader [[Eugenijus Gentvilas]]) or employees of the infamous {{Ill|East-Baltic States-West|lt|EBSW}} investment company.

In the 1995 municipal election, the party got 2.69 percent of the votes nationally and 40 councillors. Most of these gains were city districts (e. g. [[Birštonas]], [[Marijampolė]], [[Klaipėda]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vrk.lt/statiniai/puslapiai/rinkimai/1995/savivaldybes/rezultatai/rez_apg_sar_l_2.htm|title=Balsavimo rezultatai apygardose}}</ref> After these elections many members of Liberal Union in [[Kaunas]] resigned. In [[1996 Lithuanian parliamentary election|1996 parliamentary election]] the party received 1.84 percent of the votes and one mandate. In 1997 municipal election, the party won 3.99 percent of the votes. As a result, the Liberal Union managed to form coalitions with other parties and win mayorships (most notably, in Klaipėda).

Party's breakthrough came in late 1999, when former [[Prime Minister of Lithuania]] (and [[Homeland Union]] member) [[Rolandas Paksas]] became party's leader. In 2000 municipal election the Liberal Union won 13.99 percent of the votes (first place was won by the [[New Union (Social Liberals)]] with 16.68 percent of the votes) and mayorships in three major cities, [[Vilnius]], [[Kaunas]] and Klaipėda. In the [[2000 Lithuanian parliamentary election|parliamentary election of the same year]], the party won 17.25 percent of the votes and 34 seats in Seimas. By this, the Liberal Union was the largest single party in Seimas for four months in 2000 and 2001.

After these elections, the Liberal Union formed a [[Paksas Cabinet II|coalition with the New Union (Social Liberals), the Lithuanian Centre Union, the Modern Christian Democrats and the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania]] (with support from the [[Lithuanian Peasants Party]]). This coalition lasted for seven months, when New Union (Social Liberals) withdraw their government ministers.

After this, the party joined the opposition. By December 2001, Rolandas Paksas (and some of his followers) left the Liberal Union and founded the [[Order and Justice|Liberal Democratic Party]]. Along this split, the party started negotiations with former coalition partners, the [[Lithuanian Centre Union]] and the Modern Christian Democrats, about merger. All three parties merged into [[Liberal and Centre Union]] in 2003.

==Prominent members==
*[[Eugenijus Gentvilas]]
*[[Vidmantas Plečkaitis]]
*[[Dalia Kutraitė-Giedraitienė]] 
*[[Artūras Zuokas]]

==See also==
*[[Liberalism]]
*[[Contributions to liberal theory]]
*[[Liberalism worldwide]]
*[[List of liberal parties]]
*[[Liberal democracy]]
*[[Liberalism in Lithuania]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20000816013124/http://lls.lt/ Official website archived as for August, 2000]

{{Lithuanian political parties}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberal Union Of Lithuania}}
[[Category:Classical liberal parties]]
[[Category:Defunct liberal political parties|Lithuania 1990)]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in Lithuania]]
[[Category:Liberal parties in Lithuania]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1990]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 2003]]
[[Category:1990 establishments in Lithuania]]


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