The Freedom Party () is a political party in Lithuania placed in the centre on the political spectrum, founded on 1 June 2019 by former Liberal Movement member Aušrinė Armonaitė. She was leader from 2019 bis 2024. Leader since 30 November 2024 is Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius.

History

The party has its roots in Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius's list "For

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, which we are proud of!", which won the Lithuanian capital's council and mayoral election. In November 2018, Aušrinė Armonaitė announced intentions to found a new party. By the summer and autumn of 2019, the party established its branches in cities and their surrounding municipalities. The party was accepted as a full member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in October 2019. The party saw success in 2020 Lithuanian parliamentary election and obtained 11 seats. After this, the party formed a coalition with the Homeland Union and Liberal Movement and delegated three ministers - Armonaitė, Ewelina Dobrowolska and Marius Skuodis - to the Šimonytė Cabinet. On 11 December 2021, the Freedom Party officially became a full member of the ALDE Party.

Platform

The Freedom Party has been described as liberal,

neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

social liberal Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...

, and

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

. The party supports

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...

, the legalisation of same-sex unions in Lithuania, and has a goal to remove restrictions on the personal use of

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

in Lithuania. In regards to economics, the party is extremely economically liberal and advocates for policies such as cutting taxes and loosening the labour code. The party supports

European integration European integration is the process of political, legal, social, regional and economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union ...

and recognizing the statehood of Taiwan (Republic of China) as a country separate from the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and is strongly opposed to Russian aggression in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It supports the European Green Deal. Within the Šimonytė Cabinet, it criticized its coalition partners, namely the Homeland Union and the Liberal Movement, for insufficient adherence to

progressivism Progressivism is a Left-right political spectrum, left-leaning political philosophy and Reformism, reform political movement, movement that seeks to advance the human condition through social reform. Adherents hold that progressivism has unive ...

, as well as their "left-wing tax policy".

Election results

Seimas

European Parliament

Seimas members (2020–2024)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freedom Party (Lithuania) 2019 establishments in Lithuania Political parties established in 2019 Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party member parties Centrist parties in Lithuania Feminist parties in Europe LGBTQ rights in Lithuania LGBTQ rights organizations Liberal parties in Lithuania Pro-European political parties in Lithuania Progressive parties Social liberal parties