Order and Justice Tvarka ir teisingumas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | TT |
| Leader | Almantas Petkus (last) |
| Founder | Rolandas Paksas |
| Founded | 9 March 2002[1] |
| Dissolved | 2 January 2025 |
| Split from | Liberal Union of Lithuania[1] |
| Merged into | Freedom and Justice[2] |
| Headquarters | Gedimino pr. 10 / Totorių g. 1,Vilnius |
| Membership | 12,043 (2018)[3] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Right-wing[9] |
| European affiliation | AEN (until 2009) ADDE (2014–2017) |
| European Parliament group | UEN (2004–2009) EFD (2009–2014) EFDD (2014–2019) |
| Colours | Yellow Blue |
| Website | |
| www | |
Order and Justice (Lithuanian:Tvarka ir teisingumas,TT), formerly theLiberal Democratic Party (Liberalų Demokratų Partija,LDP) was aright-wing[9][10]national-conservative[5]political party inLithuania that self-identified as "left-of-centre", at least on economic matters.[citation needed] It had eight members in theSeimas, theunicameral Lithuanian parliament, as of the last election it participated in (2016).
Formed as the 'Liberal Democratic Party' in 2002, the party achieved almost immediate success with the election of leaderRolandas Paksas asPresident of Lithuania within its first year. Paksas'simpeachment led to the party reorganising itself as 'Order and Justice' to compete in the2004 parliamentary election. Since then, it was the fourth-largest party in the Seimas, and finished third in theelections to the European Parliament andto the presidency.
The party sat on the right, possessed aradical andanti-establishment identity, and has been described as bothsocially conservative[6] and 'liberal' or 'right-liberal',[11] in line with its original identity.[12] Its support was strongest in the north-westSamogitia region.[6] The party's two MEPs sat in theEurope of Freedom and Direct Democracy group in theEuropean Parliament, with the party having previously belonged to the now-defunctUnion for Europe of the Nations (UEN) andEurope of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) groups.
In 2020, the party chairmanRemigijus Žemaitaitis signed an agreement with the chairman of theLithuanian Freedom Union (Liberals),Artūras Zuokas, and former MPArturas Paulauskas to unite their political movements to form theFreedom and Justice party. Žemaitaitis was later expelled from said party and founded a new party calledDawn of Nemunas. The party was officially liquidated in January 2025.
After being defeated in the leadership election for theLiberal Union,Rolandas Paksas founded the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 2002, taking with him 13 of his supporters from Liberal parliamentary group in the Seimas, making the party the fourth-largest party.[1] Nationally, founders of the new party were not only Liberal Union's members. It attracted members ofLithuanian Centre Union (e. g.Kęstutis Trečiokas) andNew Union (Social Liberals).
Paksas finished second in the first round of thepresidential election on 22 December, with 19.7%: qualifying him for a run-off againstincumbentPresidentValdas Adamkus.[1] For the run-off, Paksas represented a youthful alternative to the ageing candidate, adopting the slogan 'Vote for Change';[13] despite all the parties except the LDP backing Adamkus, he won across almost all of the country, with 54.7%.[1] The campaign was likened to the previous spring'sFrench presidential election and Paksas toJean-Marie Le Pen for hispopulism.[1] However, unlike Le Pen, the Paksas immediately announced his support for Lithuania's ongoing process of accession to theEuropean Union andNATO.[1]
In June, 2003, Paksas set about fightingpolitical corruption that saw 700 public officials under the old administration acquire land illegally.[13] However, this was soon overshadowed by revelations in October that Paksas gavecitizenship to, and heard requests for political favours from,Yury Borisov, aRussian businessman that had donated $400,000 to Paksas's campaign, and that high-ranking members of Paksas's staff had connections to Russian criminal groups.[13] Although Paksas was found not to have been influenced by the criminals, his staff had been; Paksas offered that his six close advisers named in the report resign, but calls for Paksas himself to resign mounted.[13]
Paksas alleged that the parliamentary commission set up to investigate the claims was set up for political reasons, and refused to cooperate.[13] In response, the four other parties (Social Democratic Party of Lithuania,New Union (Social Liberals),Liberal and Centre Union andHomeland Union) initiatedimpeachment proceedings.[14] In December, theConstitutional Court ruled that granting citizenship to Borisovas was illegal and impeachable.[13] Despite this, Paksas remained popular with the public.[13] On 6 April 2004, the Seimas voted to impeach him and remove him from office on three counts with 86, 86, and 89 MPs voting to impeach, with 85 required.[15] Nonetheless, after his impeachment, he was tried in the criminal courts, and acquitted on all charges.[15] The Constitutional Court found that Paksas shall be precluded for life from being elected as president, as a member of the Seimas and some other high-ranking official positions. Paksas complained against the lifetime duration of the impeachment and filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg). In January 2011 the Court rendered his judgement in favor of Paksas. In spite of the Conventual obligation to fulfill Judgements of the Court and in spite of enforcement proceedings by the Council of Europe the Judgement of the European Court of Human Rights has not been fulfilled. In 2012 Paksas complained to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. In March 2014 the Committee found that the lifelong disqualification from political office violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As of 2018 the violations of Human Rights as found by the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Committee on Human Rights still persist.
Another presidential election was scheduled to elect a replacement for Paksas. The LDP nominated Paksas, giving the people a referendum on his impeachment. Whilst his nomination was initially accepted, it was then thrown out by the Constitutional Court, leaving the LDP without a nominee in the election.[15] In thefirst election to theEuropean Parliament, the LDP won 6.8% of the vote, and one seat.[15] The member of theEuropean Parliament from the Lithuanian Liberal Democratic party wasRolandas Pavilionis, a former rector ofVilnius University. He joined theUnion for Europe of the Nations.
Throughout Paksas's scandal and impeachment, the Liberal Democrats presented soft opposition to the governing centre-left coalition, alongside the unitedLiberal and Centre Union andHomeland Union. In theparliamentary election in October, the LDP formed a coalition calledCoalition for Rolandas Paksas 'For Order and Justice', which was successful in winning 11 seats. However, the centre-left coalition managed to hold on to power, thanks to a failure of the centre-right parties to agree to cooperate.[15]
The congress of the party, held on 13 May 2006, declared, that the party had passed a difficult stage of its establishment successively, encouraging people of Lithuania to constantly oppose corruption and power misapplication in the country and changing the name of the party to 'Order and Justice'. The formal reason for changing the name was the fact that four different political groups used the word 'liberal' in their names. According to unofficial views of some party members, the new name mirrors the party's more conservative position than when it was founded in 2002.
In the2007 municipal elections, although the party was disappointed with the general results, it won aplurality inVilnius, and formed a coalition with theSocial Democratic Party (LSDP) under mayorJuozas Imbrasas.[16] This was despite Law and Order members of the Seimas then supportingmotions of no confidence in several LSDP cabinet members for handling of theprivatisation ofAlita.[16]
The Order and Justice Party ran in the2008 election to the Seimas with a tactic of decontaminating Paksas, despite Paksas's inability to hold political office after his impeachment, and released afilm that was shown in cinemas nationwide.[6] Aiming to greatly increase its number of seats and form the new government, the party saw its share of the vote increase only slightly, to 12.7%, and its number of seats increase by 4, to 15.[6] This minor increase was attributed to the rise of theNational Resurrection Party, which shared the same electorate as the Order and Justice. The dramatic doubling of the centre-right's share of seats allowed them to form a government: including three parties, but not the Order and Justice.[6]
At the2009 European elections, the Order and Justice won two seats, up from one in 2004, coming third. After the election, they left the disbandingUnion for Europe of the Nations (UEN), and joined the more euroscepticEurope of Freedom and Democracy (EFD).
In May 2012, ahead of theOctober 2012 election, Order and Justice signed a pact with theLabour and theSocial Democrats to cooperate in any post-election negotiations.[17] The Order and Justice joined government with these parties, which lasted up until 2016.
Following the2014 European election, the Order and Justice MEPs rejoined the EFD group in the European Parliament, which was renamedEurope of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) for the new parliamentary term. InOctober 2016 election, the party fared poorly by getting 8 seats in Seimas. After this result, Rolandas Paksas resigned as party's chairman.
By the summer of 2018, negotiations started between Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, Social Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania and the Order and Justice considering possible cooperation between them. On September 11, 2018, those parties signed aconfidence and supply agreement. On May 29, 2019, Social Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania and Order and Justice chairmenGediminas Kirkilas andRemigijus Žemaitaitis announced to public that talks about expanded coalition between these parties and Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union has started.[18] On June 7, 2019,Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – Christian Families Alliance council agreed that party should join these talks,[19] which were concluded on July 5, 2019.[20]
New coalition lasted just for two months as the Order and Justice parliamentary group dissolved itself on September 10, 2019, when majority of the Order and Justice parliamentary group's members founded new parliamentary group called "For the Welfare of Lithuania" (which by itself existed up until mid-January 2020).[21] On September 19, 2019, this parliamentary group signed a confidence and supply agreement with coalition's parties. On October 23, 2019, the Order and Justice had been expelled from coalition.[22]
By the end of 2018, Rolandas Paksas left the party. By this Order and Justice lost its representative in the European Parliament. In 2019 and 2020 the party lost many notorious members (e. g.Petras Gražulis, Kęstas Komskis) by expulsions or resignations. On September 25, 2019, Remigijus Žemaitaitis proposed formation of new party called "Sovereign Lithuania" or "United Lithuania – Sovereign Lithuania".[23]
Prior the2020 parliamentary election, former party members joined ranks not only in theFreedom and Justice, but also in theLithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (e. g. Algimantas Dumbrava) and in theLiberal Movement (e. g. most ofPagėgiai Municipality members along with the mayor, Vaidas Bendaravičius).[24]
Party underwent a prolonged disestablishment, partly due to being a defendant in criminal procedings.Almantas Petkus, the former secretary-general lead the party through this time. Finally, the party was convicted for BK 226,influence peddling in November 2023 and ordered to pay around €113 thousand in damages while another €279 thousand were confiscated as ilicit gains.[25][26] However then the party was subsequently liquidated on 2 January 2025.
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 135,807 (PR) (as part of the R. Paksas coalition “Order and Justice”) | 11.36 | 11 / 141 |  11 | 5th | Opposition |
| 2008 | 156,777 (PR) | 12.68 | 15 / 141 | 4 | 4th | Opposition |
| 2012 | 100,120 (PR) | 7.63 | 11 / 141 |  4 |  4th | Coalition |
| 2016 | 67,817 (PR) | 5.55 | 8 / 141 | 3 | 5th | Opposition (2016–2019) |
| Coalition (2019) | ||||||
| Opposition (2019–2020) |
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