Druskininkai - viena iš Lietuvos savivaldybių, kurioje per 2019 metų rinkimus stipriai atsispindėjo nacionalinės politikos pokyčiai bei vietos politikos reformos. Analizuojant išsamią situaciją jų mieste, galima matyti, kaip skirtingos politinės jėgos ir jų koalicijos lemia merų postų skaičių, tarybos sudėtį bei rinkėjų aktyvumo pokyčius.
Vietos politikoje ryškėja nepartiniai sąrašai ir jų įtaka
The popularity of the non-partisan electoral committees has severely strengthened as they took 26,76% of the total votes (up from 10,59% in the 2015 elections) and won in all 5 main city municipalities. Many regular party member politicians, including incumbent mayors, decided to form their own ad hoc committees for this election rather than run on their party lists. In Lithuania, parties are generally mistrusted as "machines of corruption" by parts of the population, leading to massive support for non-partisan lists. As the major parties lost some key politicians to the committees, their results plummeted.
Ši dinamika rodo, kad vietos pasirinkimai gali neatitikti didžiųjų partijų tradicijų: įtaka miestuose dažnai priklauso nuo to, ar kandidatai sugebėjo įtvirtinti asmeninę patikimumo programas ir ar sėkmingai išskyrė save iš partinių struktūrų. Druskininkuose tai reiškė, kad konkusų akiratyje atsidūrė ne tik partiniai kandidatai, bet ir vietiniai vadovai, kurie ėmė kurti savo ad hoc komitetus.
Politinių jėgų pasiskirstymas Lietuvoje: regioniniai ir nacionaliniai poliarizacijos ženklai
Peasants/Greens (centre-left, agriculturalist), on the one hand, strengthened their result significantly to 11,16% from 6,82% four years ago. However, their result is likely more worrying than joyful for them as in the parliamentary election of 2016 they were the first in the number of MPs election while now they are third among the parties. Liberal Movement ended up fourth among the parties but, with just 5,89% of the vote in place of 15,54% four years ago, it became the big loser, mostly due to the defections of key politicians. Poles' electoral action (Tomaševski's), long increasing its voter numbers by also attracting the other minorities (especially Russians) and trying to attract religious Christians who are also essentially a minority after the Soviet occupation (even naming the coalition "Union of Christian families"), now suffered a small blow as well. The last three parties essentially became regional parties as they did not even seriously contest many municipalities, preferring to concentrate forces on where they are strong.
Druskininkuose, kaip ir kituose didesniuose miestuose, vyko tendencija, kai centrinės partijos palieka vietos politikos sceną, o pastebimas stiprėjimas nepartinių ir regioninių koalicijų, kurios orientuojasi į konkrečius miestelius ar regionus. Tokiu būdu merai ir tarybų nariai įgauna didesnį įtakos laipsnį, nes jų koalicijos gali būti mažiau priklausomos nuo nacionalinių partijų frakcijų.
Merų ir tarybos narių skaičiai bei jų atstovavimas Druskininkuose
In Vilnius, the forces of the incumbent mayor Remigijus Šimašius prevailed, albeit now under an independent committee flag rather than under that of the Liberal Movement. Šimašius (37,8% of the mayoral vote) and Zuokas (22,99%) will also face each other in the second round of the mayoral elections, repeating the battle won by Šimašius 4 years ago. Among the parties, Homeland Union increased its presence from 8 to 9. The big losers were the Valdemar Tomaševski's block which lost much of their electorate, declining from 10 to 6 seats. While Uspaskich had little chance in becoming a mayor of Vilnius where Labour Party never was strong (he came up third with 10,9% of the vote), his name attracted numerous Russian voters away from the Polish-dominated (albeit officially representing all minorities) Tomaševski block.
In one of the largest landslides of the Lithuanian electoral history, the incumbent mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis had totally swept away all the opponents. He was reelected in the first round as a mayor, gaining a sweeping 79,59% of the popular vote. Grubliauskas's committee gained 9 seats and the Liberal Movement gained 3 (11 last year, when Grubliauskas was still in the Liberal Movement). In the mayoral elections Grubliauskas will have to stand in the second round against Arvydas Vaitkus of Peasants/Greens.
Druskininkų savivaldybės specifika: vietos valdymo architektūra ir politinis klimatas
Šiauliai became yet another city where the present mayor has strengthened positions. Urbšys's committee gained 4 seats and Urbšys himself 18,01% of the mayoral vote, pitting him against Račkauskas in the second round. However, it suffered a small decline from 20 to 18 seats. Such decline happens almost every election and is likely attributable to the changing demography in the region as many ethnic Lithuanians move in from Vilnius city due to suburbanization and they usually don't vote for the Tomaševski's minority-rights block. Mairja Rekst was re-elected in the first round (52,48%).
Druskininkų konkrečios duomenys rodo platesnes tendencijas: daugelyje savivaldybių vyrauja senų vadovų pergalės, o žemyninės politinės jėgos laikosi stipriai vietinėse rinkėjų nuotaikose, kai kuriose vietose įsišaknija „regioninės“ jėgos, o didelių nacionalinių partijų įtaka gali būti ribota.
Darbas su biudžetu ir autonomija: vietos vadovų įtaka
The local budget autonomy and the distribution of financial resources play a crucial role in mayoral elections. The 2020 budgetary reform and the integrated strategic management model influence how municipalities plan and execute local development projects. The governance structure emphasizes the balance between the mayor’s executive powers and the council’s legislative functions, which can lead to frictions if the majority council is aligned with a different political bloc than the mayor.
Kaip regioniniai ir vietiniai procesai keičia Lietuvos politinį peizažą
In 2022, further changes to the Law on Elections to Municipal Councils were made, and mayors have gained more powers, for example, to appoint a vice-mayor, a director of municipal administration, among others. Critics of these changes claim that the increased powers of mayors will make them “little kings” that will not even need a majority in the councils in order to make decisions and push through their own agenda. On the other hand, proponents of the reform point out that the changes have given mayors not only greater powers but also greater responsibilities. The reform has also introduced a maximum number of three terms that any individual can serve as a mayor.
Candidates from 16 political parties and from 32 different public election committees participated in the elections - a notable decrease from 87 committees participating in municipal elections four years ago. In total, 13.8 thousand candidates competed for 1498 seats in Councils across the country. These numbers illustrate the evolving landscape of local governance in Lithuania, where direct mayoral elections and the rise of non-partisan blocks reshape political competition at the municipal level.
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