Lithuania's liberal movement on brink of parliamentary disappearance

Lithuania's liberal movement's rating has dropped by nearly two thirds in a month amid corruption scandal putting the party on the risk of not getting to the next parliament, shows the survey by Vilmorus released on Saturday.

According to the survey which was published by Lietuvos rytas daily on Saturday, if the parliamentary elections would be held Today, 3.6 percent of voters would vote for the liberal movement, compared to 8.9 percent in May.

The results show that the opposition party would be short of meeting the minimum 5 percent threshold needed for the country's parties to be elected to the Seimas, the Lithuanian parliament.

"The change is very huge. The ratings have decreased more than I had expected," a sociologist and the head of Vilmorus Vladas Gaidys told Lietuvos rytas.

"The Liberal movement has found itself on the brink of disappearance, or the brink of not getting to the parliament," said Gaidys.

In his words, the results possibly show that the liberals' electorate is very sensitive for corruption display.

In May, Lithuanian liberal movement was shaken by corruption scandal when the country's prosecutors brought formal suspicions on influence peddling, unlawful enrichment and bribery against the former leader of Lithuania's liberal movement Eligijus Masiulis.

According to the survey, the Homeland union-Lithuanian Christian democrats, the conservative opposition party, would benefit the most from the decreasing liberals' popularity. Currently, 10.9 percent of voters would support the conservatives, compared to 8.9 percent in May. The survey shows, the conservatives are in the third place.

The social democrats, the leaders of the centre-left ruling coalition, have maintained the support of 16.2 percent of voters, remaining the most popular party, followed by the Lithuanian peasant and greens union with 13 percent, shows the survey.

Lithuania's parliamentary elections are scheduled on 9th October. Endit