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Political parties and their members in Lithuania

ABSTRACT Previous research expected political parties in post-communist democracies to avoid the ‘time consuming and arduous’ process of building and maintaining membership bases. By 2007, however, 5.2% of the Lithuanian public were members of a political party (Eurequal). This research uses surveys and interviews to investigate the functions of party members in two Lithuanian political parties, Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats and the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party. This article explores elites’ incentives for developing their parties as membership organizations. Members were valued for offering ‘legitimacy benefits’ and helping parties to communicate with voters, including by acting as ‘ambassadors in the community.’