Homeland Union (Lithuania)
조국연합 (리투아니아)
A centre-right Lithuanian party founded on 1 May 1993 as the continuation of the political activity of Sąjūdis. Its founder Vytautas Landsbergis led it until 2003, and it won the 1996 election and governed. In 2008 it merged with the Lithuanian Christian Democrats to become the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats, and it is a member of the European People's Party.
In depth
The Homeland Union (Lithuanian Conservatives) was founded on 1 May 1993 as the continuation of the political activity of Sąjūdis. According to the Lithuanian article on Landsbergis, he was elected its chairman at the founding, re-elected in 1995, 1998 and 2000, and led it until 2003. The Lithuanian source describes it as a centre-right party pursuing liberal-conservative policies.
In its first parliamentary election in 1996 it won 70 seats and formed a coalition government with the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party, and Landsbergis became Speaker of the Seimas. In 1999 Laima Andrikienė and others left to found the Homeland People's Party, and in 2000 supporters of the former board chairman Gediminas Vagnorius formed the Union of Moderate Conservatives. In the October election that year the party won only 9 seats.
In 2003–2004 it merged with the Lithuanian Right Union and the Lithuanian Union of Political Prisoners and Deportees, becoming the largest party in Lithuania. The Lithuanian Nationalists' Union joined in 2008, and on 17 May of that year it merged with the Lithuanian Christian Democrats to become the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats. Under Andrius Kubilius, chairman from 2003, it won 45 seats in 2008 and formed a coalition government.
In 2015 the founder's grandson Gabrielius Landsbergis became chairman. In the 2016 election it became the largest opposition force with 31 seats, and in the 2020 election, with Ingrida Šimonytė heading the list, it came first and formed a majority coalition with the Liberal Movement and the Freedom Party.