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National Resurrection Party

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National Resurrection Party

The National Resurrection Party (Lithuanian: Tautos prisikėlimo partija; sometimes translated as Rising Nation Party or National Revival Party) was a short-lived political party in Lithuania. In the 2008 Lithuanian parliamentary election, it became one of the largest parties in the Tenth Seimas of Lithuania, but quickly lost popularity, disintegrated and merged with the Liberal and Centre Union in 2011.

Arūnas Valinskas, Lithuanian producer and media personality, first announced the idea of forming a party for "resurrection" in April 2008. It was registered in June of the same year. Valinskas was elected as the leader of the party and served as the leader for the entirety of its existence.

From the beginning, the TPP was described as a "showmen's party", as many of its initial members were TV personalities and representatives of the media industry, much like Valinskas himself. Many of the figures included in the party's electoral list were personally connected to Valinskas - including his wife Inga Valinskienė [lt], as well as the manager of his company "A. Valinsko tvenkiniai". Saulius Stoma [lt], who later joined the party, claimed that Valinskas was connected with the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania and the Maxima Group.

At the election of 12 October 2008 to the Seimas, the party won 15.09% of the popular vote and 13 seats in the first round. However, in spite of fielding numerous media personalities known to the Lithuanian public, it only won 3 additional seats in the second round of the single-member constituency elections.

Before the 2008 parliamentary election, the party announced its interest to work with any parties except the Labour Party and Order and Justice, which Valinskas described as threats to national security. However, after the election, the TPP, Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats, the Liberal and Centre Union and the Liberal Movement joined in a centre-right "Coalition for Change" (Lithuanian: Permainų koalicija), which formed the Kubilius Cabinet II.

According to the coalition agreement, Valinskas was to be elected Speaker of the Seimas, but he was only elected after a second vote, becoming the first Speaker of the Seimas in Lithuanian history to not be elected on the first vote. As the vote was secret, it is unknown which members of the coalition protested.

The TPP nominated Vice-Mayor of Neringa Municipality Arūnas Burkšas for Minister of Environment and actor and former leader of the "Eaters of Bread" Party (Lithuanian: Duonos valgytojų partija) Remigijus Vilkaitis for Minister of Culture. While Vilkaitis was accepted, the nomination of Burkšas was highly controversial due to his approval of numerous illegal constructions in the Curonian Spit, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a national park, and was blocked by Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius. Eventually, Gediminas Kazlauskas [lt] was nominated instead.

The first signs of the party's collapse came in early 2009, due to protests from the party membership over Valinskas' authoritarian leadership in the party. Valinskas stalled the adoption of a party statute, fearing that it would reduce his control of the party. Opposition within the party also criticized the arrogant attitude of Minister Remigijus Vilkaitis. Regardless, Valinskas was reelected as chairman of the party without opposition in a party conference on 15 March, which also approved a list of the party's candidates for the 2009 European Parliament elections.

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