Lithuanian Parliamentary Election, 1990

Lithuanian Parliamentary Election, 1990

The Lithuanian legislative elections for 141 seats in the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR were held in the Lithuanian SSR on 24 February with run-off elections on 4, 7, 8 and 10 March 1990. In six constituencies voter turnout was below required minimum, therefore a third round was held on April 7 and 21. For the first time since the election to the People's Seimas in 1940, non-communist candidates were allowed to run. It was the first and the only free multi-party elections in Soviet Lithuania. Pro-independence Sąjūdis movement refused to become a political party and endorsed candidates of various other political parties based on their personal merits. These endorsements often meant more than official party affiliations, and Sąjūdis-backed candidates won 91 out of 135 seats. During its third session on 11 March 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR adopted the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania thus declaring Lithuania's independence from the Soviet Union.