Lietuvos Demokratieinė darbo partija

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The Lietuvos democinės darbo partija ( LDDP , German  Democratic Labor Party of Lithuania ) was a social democratic political party in Lithuania .

history

The LDDP was created on December 8, 1990 by renaming the Lithuanian Communist Party (LKP). On January 27, 2001, it merged with the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (LSDP) and has been operating under that name ever since.

The first party chairman of the LDDP was the chief (general secretary) of the predecessor party LKP, Algirdas Brazauskas . The LKP had already renounced the CPSU in 1989 and wanted to emphasize its renunciation of communism by renaming it without completely dissolving the party.

In the Supreme Soviet of Lithuania, which had been elected in free elections in February 1990 and which was then renamed the Restoring Seimas , the LKP / LDDP had won almost 50 of the 141 seats. Shortly after the declaration of independence of March 11, 1990, which she supported, she declared herself in opposition to the right-wing majority in parliament.

As a result, their stance against overly radical market economy reforms and privatizations as well as against the stigmatization of former employees of the communist regime (such as the temporary exclusion from public office) and for a balance both within the population and in politics towards the Soviet Union , the LDDP is growing in popularity among the population. In the first elections to the Lithuanian parliament in 1992, the LDDP was able to achieve an unexpectedly clear electoral success of this magnitude and govern with an absolute majority until 1996 (76 of the 141 mandates).

The continuing popularity of the party and its chairman found expression in the presidential elections held six months after the parliamentary elections in January / February 1993, when Algirdas Brazauskas was elected first president of the Second Republic of Lithuania by a large majority. The new party chairman was then Prime Minister Adolfas Šleževičius, and after his resignation as Prime Minister and party chairman in February 1996, the then parliamentary chairman Česlovas Juršėnas (until January 2001). The elections of 1996 expressed the dissatisfaction of the population with the economic development and the sole government of the LDDP and a fall to only 12 seats.

In the wake of the upcoming elections, the two Lithuanian social democratic parties (LDDP and LSDP ) joined forces in May to form a common electoral list , A. Brazausko socialdemokratinė koalicija (A. Brazauskas' social democratic coalition) . This coalition, to which the New Democracy and the Party of Russians also belonged, won a total of 51 seats in the October 2000 elections , 27 of which were for the LDDP and 17 for the LSDP.

In January 2001, the two social democratic parties, LDDP and LSDP, were expected to merge, while the name of the traditional LSDP was continued, but the party chairman of the LDDP, Algirdas Brazauskas, took over.

Due to its origins from the LKP, the LDDP was the party that was best organized from the beginning of independent Lithuania and most strongly anchored in the population with local associations. When it merged with the LSDP, it brought in the majority of the members and was awarded the majority of the offices. The LDDP has always seen itself in the tradition of European social democracy.