ARE THERE ANY SOCIAL-CLASS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE LEFT AND THE REST OF THE LITHUANIAN POLITICAL PARTIES' PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATIVES?
ARE THERE ANY SOCIAL-CLASS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE LEFT AND THE REST OF THE LITHUANIAN POLITICAL PARTIES' PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATIVES?

Summary/Abstract: The paper analyzes the composition of the most recent Lithuanian Parliament,elected in 2024, according to criteria such as social class, age, gender, and education. It alsocompares the current parliament with the previous one, which was formed following the2020 legislative elections. Both legislatures have completely different parliamentary majorities.In 2020, the center-right Conservatives won the elections and formed a coalition with two minor liberal parties. Meanwhile, in 2024, the pendulum swung to the left, with thecenter-left Social Democrats achieving a major victory. Thus, the paper aims to investigatewhether notable differences exist in the composition of these parliaments regarding theaforementioned criteria. The social-class identity of the members of parliament (MPs) isestablished by applying Daniel Oesch's conceptual model. We conclude that the consecutiveLithuanian parliaments, as well as the representatives of major political parties despitetheir rival ideologies, do not differ significantly in terms of social class, gender, age, andother socio-demographic parameters. This may signify similar mechanisms of elite recruitmentacross the political spectrum. Finally, we examine whether this pattern is observed inother contemporary European democracies.

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