The first round of the parliamentary election in Lithuania was held yesterday. In the first round, 70 seats are allocated on a proportional basis with a 5% threshold. In addition, voting took place in 71 single-member constituencies. The second round of voting will be held on 28 October.

Here are the provisional but seemingly almost final results from the Electoral Commission website for the proportional election:

• Labour Party (DP), 20.15% (17 seats)
• Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (LSDP), 18.56% (16 seats)
• Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD), 14.77% (12 seats)
• Liberals’ Movement of the Republic of Lithuania (LRLS), 8.26% (7 seats)
• Way of Courage (DK), 7.89% (7 seats)
• Order and Justice (TT), 7.42% (6 seats)
• Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania (LLRA), 5.87% (5 seats)
• No other party crossed the 5% threshold

The outgoing government was a coalition of the TS-LKD, the LRLS, National Resurrection Party and the Liberal and Centre Union (LCU). Recently, the National Resurrection Party and the Liberal and Centre Union fused under the LCU name. In relation to the 2008 election, TS-LKD has lost about 5% of the vote, whereas LRLS actually gained about 3%. However, in 2012 the LCU won just 2.07% of the vote, whereas the National Resurrection Party and the LCU won over 20% at the last election. For their part, the opposition parties gained. The Labour Party gained over 10% and the LSDP gained nearly 7% compared with 2008. The Way of Courage is also a new party. Generally, the result is being seen as another ‘austerity’ election.

The second round will determine the final outcome. There is a nice pre-election report at The Monkey Cage, which suggest that the opposition Labour Party and the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania will have difficulty forming a stable coalition.