ABSTRACT
Lithuania became the first country in the EU to ratify the new constitution on 11 November 2004, passing it by 84 votes to four with three abstentions, while in principle a simple majority is sufficient to ratify international treaties. It was argued that a referendum was unnecessary given that one had been held on joining the EU in the first place in which 91 percent voted “yes.” The small new EU member state has gone through a turbulent time for domestic politics. In April 2004, President Rolandas Paksas was forced to step down after an impeachment procedure for reasons of involvement in corruption and connections to the Russian mafia.1 Despite the re-election of the popular Valdas Adamkus for president, corruption remains at the top of the daily news. During his campaign, offices of parties, all of them in support of Adamkus’s candidature, were searched to check for illegal party financing. A national anti-corruption strategy has been adopted by the government in January 2002, the main problem, however, remains the lack of adequate enforcement of anticorruption legislation (European Forum 2004). In the first European elections after enlargement Lithuanian voters, in line with the Europe-wide trend, punished the ruling parties. The newly founded Labor Party, whose populist campaign particularly addressed the “transition losers,” repeated its success in the general elections held in October 2004, winning again almost 30 percent of the votes. The governing coalition of the Social democrats and New Union chose to bring the Labor Party along with the Peasants and New Democracy Union into government rather than forging an unstable “rainbow coalition” with right-wing parties.2
