YES – Homeland Revival and Perspective () was a minor

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. The party was founded by

Artūras Zuokas Artūras Zuokas (born 21 February 1968) is a Lithuanian journalist, businessman and politician who served as the mayor of the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, from 2000 to 2007 and again from 2011 to 2015, and as member of Lithuania's unicameral pa ...

, the

Mayor of Vilnius The Mayor of Vilnius, officially the Mayor of the municipality of the city of Vilnius (Lithuanian language, Lithuanian: ''"Vilniaus miesto savivaldybės meras"'') is the head of the Lithuanian municipality of the city of Vilnius. The current incu ...

, in 2011.

History

The founder of the party, Artūras Zuokas, served as the chairman of the

Liberal and Centre Union The Liberal and Centre Union (, LiCS) was a conservative-liberal political party in Lithuania active between 2003 and 2014. It was a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). History LiCS ...

from 2003 to 2010, but subsequently resigned from the party prior to the 2011 Lithuanian municipal elections. The objective of the founders of the party was to "shake up the country's political party system", however, this was met with scepticism by some political analysts, who described the initiative as

demagoguery A demagogue (; ; ), or rabble-rouser, is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, Appeal to emotion, appealing to emo ...

. In its 2012 programme, the party proposed a reduction in the number of MPs in

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania (), or simply the Seimas ( ; ), is the unicameralism, unicameral legislative body of the Lithuania, Republic of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of Government of Lithuania, govern ...

from 141 to 101, the limitation of parliamentary terms to two, the exemption of housing and land from taxation, and a slight increase in the

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...

. In the 2011 Vilnius City Municipal Elections, the independent candidates of "YES" emerged victorious, securing the largest faction in the

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 ...

City Municipal Council with 13 members, including

Rūta Vanagaitė Rūta Vanagaitė (born January 25, 1955) is a public figure in Lithuania, who is also a theatre critic, writer, and journalist. She is controversial for her comments in 2017 about the Lithuanian anti-Soviet resistance leader Adolfas Ramanauskas, ...

Darius Maskoliūnas Darius Maskoliūnas (born 6 January 1971) is a Lithuanian professional basketball coach, former player, and politician. Early life Maskoliūnas graduated from the first secondary school, in Jonava. Professional career During his pro club play ...

Žydrūnas Savickas Žydrūnas Savickas (; born July 15, 1975) is a Lithuanian former professional strongman and powerlifter. Throughout his career, he competed in and won 84 international competitions, including four World's Strongest Man titles, two IFSA Strong ...

and others. In 2014, "YES" re-merged with the Liberals and Centre Union to form the Freedom Union of Lithuania (Liberals), and in 2020 the party merged with the

Order and Justice Order and Justice (, TT), formerly the Liberal Democratic Party (''Liberalų Demokratų Partija'', LDP) was a right-wing national-conservative political party in Lithuania that self-identified as " left-of-centre", at least on economic matters. It ...

and the political movement "Forward, Lithuania", resulting in the establishment of a new political party named Freedom and Justice.

References

Liberal parties in Lithuania Political parties established in 2011 {{Europe-liberal-party-stub