Homeland Union, the largest opposition party in the preceding Seimas, finished a distant second with 31 seats, though winning a slightly larger share of the national vote.

[2] Social Democrats were joined in the coalition government by Labour, Order and Justice and the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania.

In October 2015, the Constitutional Court of Lithuania decided that the existing system, which allows the largest constituency to be as much as 50% larger than the smallest one, is unconstitutional, since it does not give sufficiently equal weight to all votes.

As a result, a political party with candidates in every single-seat constituency could spend just over 2.2 million euros on its election campaign.

[33] 23 political parties were eligible to participate in the elections, having submitted their membership rolls before 1 March 2016, in compliance with legal requirements.

[38] Their ratings suffered in 2016, damaged by a corruption scandal related to construction in protected areas near Druskininkai, but the Social Democrats remained the most popular party according to opinion polls.

[44] The party surprised political observers by winning the largest share of the vote in the European Parliament elections in 2014 and tended to outperform the opinion polls due to the higher participation rate among their supporters.

[45][47] The party lost most of its support after its leader, Eligijus Masiulis, was accused of taking a substantial bribe from one of the leading business groups in the country.

[50] As part of its platform, the party proposed a smaller government, lower taxes (especially VAT) and more flexible labor relationships.

Led by businessman Ramūnas Karbauskis, the party received 6.6% of the vote in the European Parliament elections in 2014, earning a single mandate, and emerged as a dark horse in the electoral race in the spring of 2016.

The rise of LVŽS was attributed to the popularity of Karbauskis, who had been active in campaigning against alcohol, and their lack of involvement in political scandals.

Labour was the second-largest party in Lithuania in terms of members, but had been plagued by accusations of fraudulent bookkeeping, and by the departure of its founder Viktor Uspaskich.

Paksas, who is barred from being elected to the Seimas, was suspected of accepting a bribe from Gedvydas Vainauskas, a media magnate, in exchange for favors related to construction permits.

[45] The party proposed to link salaries and pensions to an inflation index, to exempt reinvested profits from corporate income taxes and to create new employment opportunities.

[46] In total, 1416 candidates competed for Seimas seats in the elections, with 673 participating in the electoral races in single-seat constituencies.

[57] The agreement remained in place even after the corruption scandal involving the leader of the Liberal Movement, Eligijus Masiulis, and the subsequent slide in the party's ratings.

Prime Minister Butkevičius and Gabrielius Landsbergis of the Homeland Union clashed over the responsibility for the high poverty rate, while all parties identified what they saw as the main issues facing the economy.

Kęstutis Daukšys of the Labour Party reiterated the promise from the party's electoral program to increase the salaries and pensions while Saulius Skvernelis, representing the Farmers and Greens Union, labeled such promises as populism and proposed to remove it from political decision making by indexing the minimum wage and pensions to economic indicators.

Experts polled by the National Television judged the debates as a marginal victory for Farmers and Greens, represented by Skvernelis, closely followed by the Homeland Union.

Experts polled by the National Television criticized the lack of substantial proposals for reforms in the debate, but judged Farmers and Greens to have performed most convincingly.

[64] Analysts attributed the victory to the desire by the electorate to see new faces in the parliament, in light of low wages and rampant emigration.

The failure of government parties has been attributed to sluggish economic growth, scandals that had surfaced over the months preceding the elections and the adoption of a new labour code that was deeply unpopular with voters.

Soon after the election results became clear, the victorious Farmers and Greens started coalition consultations with Homeland Union and the Social Democrats.

[73] Farmers and Greens expressed their desire for a broad coalition involving both parties, a concept that Homeland Union ruled out.