On Saturday, the Liberal Movement's Council adopted a resolution inviting all liberal forces, feel close to the spirit of liberalism and the idea of freedom, and want to actively represent liberal ideas in Lithuania's political life, to join the Liberal Movement.
"We are constantly observing manipulations on the merger of liberal parties. The Liberal Movement's position on this issue is clear – there will be no "marriage" of liberal parties," Eligijus Masiulis, chairman of the Liberal Movement, said.
According to the resolution, this year's Seimas elections and the formation of a new ruling coalition has showed that "Lithuania needs a sensible counterbalance to leftist populist forces and parties that employ criminal technologies during elections. Lithuania needs focused and strong liberal parties."
"At the same time, we stress that these arguments cannot be the basis for mechanical merger of parties. Liberals need to distance themselves from controversial politicians who have nothing to do with liberals. We can only create a strong and pure liberal party on the basis of values," the document says.
Besides the Liberal Movement, Vilnius Mayor Artūras Zuokas-led party YES and the Liberal and Center Union, led by former Seimas deputy speaker Algis Čaplikas, call themselves liberal parties. The two, however, failed to pass the 5-percent threshold in the recent general elections and therefore did not win any parliament seats.
The Liberal Movement received 8.57 percent of the vote and has 10 seats in Lithuania's 141-seat parliament.
