2003 Juznik parliamentary election
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Parliamentary elections were held in Juznia on 16 November 2003. The result was a landslide victory for the ruling Vystymasis!, which won 177 of the 180 seats in the Taryba amidst an opposition boycott and low voter turnout.
Background
In the 1998 Juznik parliamentary election the Juznik Liberation Movement won 89 of the 180 seats in the Taryba allowing them to form a government with the aid of the minor Patriotic Homeland party. Vystymasis, which originally proclaimed itself to be a "patriotic liberal" party turned to the right during the course of this government to appease their newfound allies and in 2000 Patriotic Homeland merged into Vystymasis with most of their members in the Taryba also joining and a few splitting off to form a new party. The newly united parties now controlled a majority of the Taryba and set out on passing new laws reforming things such as the electoral commission and the judiciary and giving the government more influence over them. These policies proved unpopular with many of the party's liberal voters.
In July 2001 rioting broke out across the country in opposition the government's increasingly authoritarian policies. In response the government passed new laws granting them expansive new "public order" powers including the ability to restrict freedom of assembly in order to ensure public safety and allowing the police to detain anyone for up to 28 days without pressing any charges. Following the implementation of the new laws most of the rioters were arrested and the riots ended but the government's popularity was dented.
In the run up to the 2002 Juznik parliamentary election opposition parties faced increasing difficulties in holding public campaign activities and getting campaign materials approved by the election commission and this drove anger among their supporters. In the election Vystymasis lost it's majority and was left with 74 seats. The fragmented new parliament struggled to form any consensus on a new government and Vystymasis continued on as a minority government until September 2003 when the government collapsed. After that President Vladas Miškinis, a member of Vystymasis, called an early election.
Following the announcement of an early election every opposition party with parliamentary representation announced plans for a boycott of the vote and called on voters to also avoid voting in order to ensure the government did not receive legitimacy. However, a number of independents and new parties decided to try and take advantage of the situation and ran candidates.
Electoral system
160 of the 180 seats are elected through using closed-list proportional representation in multi-member constituencies. Parties or coalitions must pass a 4% of the vote threshold in the constituency in order to be able to gain a seat. The remaining 20 seats are given to the party or coalition which wins the most votes as a majority bonus.
Campaign
Results
| Party | Votes | % | ±pp | Seats | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vystymasis! - Juznik Liberation Movement | 2,336,917 | 91.84 |  58.49 |
177 | 103
| |
| Others | 80,644 | 3.17 | 3.17 |
3 | 3
| |
| Invalid/blank votes | 126,971 | – | – | – | – | |
| Total | 2,544,532 | 100 | – | 180 | 0 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | 9,912,331 | 25.67 |  25.91 |
– | – | |