Lithuanian conservatives seek to become less hated

Lithuania’s Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats are shifting to more right-wing positions while trying to appear less polarising, LRT reports. The strategy has emerged since Laurynas Kasčiūnas became the party’s leader.

The party has moved away from discussing human rights and using LGBT-friendly rhetoric, while giving greater emphasis to anti-immigration positions, reducing the use of the Russian language, demographic problems and families’ needs. National security remains at the centre of its political platform.

The shift could affect the wider political landscape. It may create more room for the Liberal Movement and possibly help revive the Freedom Party, while the National Alliance and the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union could lose support as the conservatives adopt and develop some of their themes.

It is unclear, however, whether the strategy will significantly expand the party’s electorate. TS-LKD supporters are considered loyal and tend to follow the direction set by the party’s leaders, moving towards more liberal or more Christian-democratic positions accordingly.

In addition to adopting more right-wing ideas on values, the conservatives are seeking to become less confrontational. One goal is to address the pattern in which supporters of other parties unite against their candidates in second-round elections.

Professor Ainė Ramonaitė of Vilnius University’s Institute of International Relations and Political Science said right-wing ideas were currently popular and that conservative-Christian Democratic voters were relatively easy for party leaders to influence.

Ramonaitė agreed that Kasčiūnas had less polarising characteristics, but questioned whether the party was deliberately fostering anti-immigration sentiment for electoral gain. Kasčiūnas has said the aim is to prevent the rise of the far right in Lithuania.

Kasčiūnas has also sought to reduce the impression that TS-LKD is a polarising political force. At the party’s latest congress, he said the opposition’s role was not merely to criticise the government, and that political disagreements too often became personal conflicts while opponents were treated as enemies.

He also said that clarity on values should be combined with respect for other opinions, and that the real enemy was not on the other side of the discussion table but outside the gates, where actions were being taken against the Lithuanian state.

Kasčiūnas has met with Social Democratic leader Mindaugas Sinkevičius and promised support in parliament on issues important to the state. According to LRT, these moves represent an attempt to reshape the party’s image, making the conservatives appear less toxic and more acceptable to a wider group of voters.

TS-LKD European Parliament member Paulius Saudargas agreed that the party was seeking to be less hated. “Politicians’ goal in general should be for society to support them, not hate them,” he said.

Speaking at the Santara-Šviesa congress, Ramonaitė said political hostility towards opponents had become increasingly prominent, with rivals portrayed as moral evil. She said politics then ceased to be a competition between ideas and instead became a desperate struggle.