The President in the political system of Lithuania: oscillation between parliamentarianism and semi-presidentialism

Vol.9,No.1(2007)

Abstract
The Republic of Lithuania is known as a peculiar case in the group of semipresidential states. Its peculiarity stems from the Lithuanian political elite’s effort to interpret the Lithuanian Constitution of 1992 in a maximally parliamentarianist manner. This paper deals with the main peculiarities of the Lithuanian semi-presidential regime and describes the status of presidential power in Lithuania. The paper makes an effort to clear up whether the political practices actually match the semi-presidential model or not. Marginally, it also defines the constitutional, or de jure, power of the Lithuanian presidency. The crucial part presents the political realities of the period 1993–2006. This part analyses the personalities of particular presidents, and their relations with other branches of government. It makes an effort to evaluate the real power of the presidents.

Keywords:
Lithuania; semi-presidentialism; Algirdas Brazauskas; Valdas Adamkus; Rolandas Paksas;
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