The candidates are Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas, who garnered most votes among LSDP branches, Deputy Seimas Speaker Juozas Olekas and Akmenė Mayor Vitalijus Mitrofanovas.
Paluckas had led the LSDP leader from 2017 to 2020, when he stepped down after the parliamentary election.
Other two candidates fielded by the branches – Jonava Mayor Mindaugas Sinkevičius and Culture Minister Šarūnas Birutis – earlier announced they would not be vying for the LSDP chairman’s post.
The final list of the contenders will be approved on 10 April. The LSDP will hold a vote to select the new chairman on 23-26 April. A runoff would be held on 7-10 May if needed.
In late February, current Social Democrat leader Vilija Blinkevičiūtė said she would not be standing for re-election as the party needs a „driven, active and energetic chair“ now.
The current MEP was elected as the chair of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) in 2021 and was re-elected for the second term in 2023.
