Vytautas Sinica, chairman of Lithuania’s National Alliance: 'Radical right' is an overused term intended to provoke fear'

“Lithuania’s general election results were largely in line with expectations, with only the success of the Democratic Party “For Lithuania” and the failure of the Liberal Freedom Party coming as surprises,” Vytautas Sinica, chairman of the right-wing National Alliance, told The Baltic Times Magazine. Having won a seat in a single-mandate constituency, he will aim to establish his party as a pro-state force in the 2024-2028 Lithuanian Parliament, the Seimas, expanding its influence in the political landscape.

You secured the party’s only mandate by defeating the influential Conservative Radvile Morkunaite-Mikuleniene, Vice-Chairperson of the ruling Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (HU-LCD). Quite a miracle, isn’t it?

Indeed, it was one of the most surprising victories. With a 15 percent deficit after the first round, winning required us to perform exceptionally well. Support came from several sources: at least 13 percent had already backed us in the first round, so some voters were already in agreement with our worldview and our message about a Lithuanian Lithuania. Then there were other factors—the fact that I benefited from both the left-wing and other nationalist voters who opposed the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats, particularly in Vilnius’ Karoliniskes district. The fact that my opponent had already secured a seat in Seimas through the party list (which influenced some young people who had supported her in the first round). We canvassed extensively across the district, visiting flats and speaking directly with residents. We recruited over 50 volunteers, many of them non-partisan, and raised several hundred donations, totaling more than 23,000 euros. This allowed us, for the first time, to compete on an even footing in terms of advertising. Finally, the debate marathon in this election helped significantly—many people told me they recognized me from the debates and felt I presented as a competent and courteous politician. 

Why does Estonia have EKRE, a radical right-wing party that has been active in politics for over a decade, while in Lithuania, a similar party struggles to gain voter support?

The Estonian EKRE is an outlier in this respect. The general trend is the opposite: in most places, nationalist parties do not rise to parliament or gain significant power until the country has experienced severe consequences from mass immigration. Nationalist parties often succeed only too late, sometimes a decade after mass immigration begins. The rise of EKRE serves as an example, but it is one that few others have managed to replicate. In Lithuania, we have worked hard to get ahead of these consequences so we can address these issues before it’s too late, but with little success so far, despite that Lithuania faces big challenges: the survival of the nation and the state. This issue has several aspects: military threats, mass immigration, and critically low birth rates.

How do you propose addressing these challenges?

First, we must prepare for the threat of military occupation, which, especially since Trump’s election, underscores the need to strengthen our own defense capabilities. Second, we must halt mass immigration, as this has reached the level of colonization, and the new government appears unwilling to stop it. Third, we need financial and cultural measures to encourage higher birth rates and support families, as we are among the world’s three fastest-disappearing nations, even without the impact of war. This goal requires, for example, a reduction in housing costs, primarily by loosening the stringent A++ class energy-efficiency requirements.

What do you see as the major problems of the Lithuanian political system?

The list is long: low political culture, parties operating as interest groups, low public trust in them and in political power generally, high corruption levels, lack of genuine self-government, and excessive deference to global power centers. I believe that many of these issues stem from a lack of genuine national and state consciousness. When you do not really feel responsible for the state and the nation, when you do not have a sense of solidarity and a sense of common destiny with the nation, it is very difficult to overcome egoism and put the state before oneself and before anything else.

Should people be afraid of the National Alliance? The media has labeled you—and will likely continue to label you—as the “radical right”…

“Radical right” is an overused term intended to provoke fear. Across Europe, the “right” has shifted toward the center, often adopting many of the left’s values, like equality and diversity, though less aggressively than the open left. In this environment, the true right has almost vanished, both in many European countries and in the Lithuanian Parliament. So, the so-called radical right is simply a genuine, conservative, patriotic party. The Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats has long ceased to be a conservative party; it has been yet another liberal party for at least a decade. People believe these labels until they get to know us directly. Therefore, our task now is to dispel the “radical” label.