Establishment, expansion, the first government and splits (1993–2000) It was founded in May 1993 by the right wing of the
Reform Movement of Lithuania, led by
Vytautas Landsbergis, who had led Lithuania to independence. His supporter, former
Prime Minister of Lithuania Gediminas Vagnorius, became party Board's chairman. Some members of Sąjūdis coalition, but not Sąjūdis itself (e. g.
Vilija Aleknaitė-Abramikienė), joined new party. The party was established by the model of then–ruling conservative parties' –
United States Republican Party,
United Kingdom Conservative Party and
Moderate Party. In December 1993, the party's youth wing, Young Conservative League, was formed. In February 1994, the Homeland Union formed its own parliamentary group in Seimas. Later that year, the Homeland Union established its branches in all of Lithuania. In the 1995 municipal election, in which the party stood for the first time, it got 28.76% of the vote and returned 428 councillors. In the
1996 national elections, it secured 31.3% of the vote and returned 70 deputies to the
Seimas. After these elections, the party formed
coalition government with the
Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party (and received support from the
Lithuanian Centre Union). After
presidential election of 1997 and 1998, in which Vytautas Landsbergis came third, party's internal conflicts became pronounced. It led to the expulsion of
Laima Liucija Andrikienė and
Vidmantas Žiemelis from the party's board in late 1998 and their resignation from the party in 1999. In 1999, conflicts started between the President
Valdas Adamkus and the Prime Minister
Gediminas Vagnorius (who also was the party's Board chairman), that involved party's leader Vytautas Landsbergis. Crisis (and resignation of Vagnorius) sped up reorganisation of party structures. Most important of them was the merger of the Political Council and the Board, which produced centralized leadership. In 2000, Gediminas Vagnorius' supporters split and new party called the
Union of Moderate Conservatives was formed. Yet another split was caused by the resignation of
Rolandas Paksas (he replaced Gediminas Vagnorius as the Prime Minister and party's Board chairman), although most of the Rolandas Paksas' supporters moved to the
Liberal Union of Lithuania in 1999 and 2000. In 2000 municipal elections, the party received just 8.8 per cent of the vote ant mayorships of Kaunas and other districts.
Back in opposition, consolidation and the second government (2000–2012) In 2000, the Homeland Union was reduced to 8.6 per cent of votes and 9 deputies. At the same time, the party attracted members from Lithuanian
Social Democracy 2000 (e.g. Rimantas Jonas Dagys) and
Modern Christian-Democratic Union (e.g. Egidijus Vareikis). In May 2003, a new leader was elected,
Andrius Kubilius, who prior this served as deputy leader of the party. Since 2003, the party started cooperating with the
Liberal and Centre Union. The Homeland Union changed its logo (the
Columns of Gediminids were replaced by green marlin's silhouette, which was similar to the logo used by the time of 1996 parliamentary election campaign, in which Kubilius was author of programme). After Lithuania's admission to the
European Union in 2004, it won two seats in the
election to the European Parliament, one of whom was
Vytautas Landsbergis, who sat in the
EPP-ED Group. At the
2004 election to the Seimas, the party won 14.6% of the popular vote and 25 out of 141 seats. After these elections, the Homeland Union proposed the Liberal and Centre Union a coalition with the
Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, but this didn't came to being. Between 2006 and 2007, the party supported
Gediminas Kirkilas-led government. Until the merger with the
Lithuanian Union of Political Prisoners and Deportees and the Right Union of Lithuania, it was known just as the
Homeland Union (Lithuanian Conservatives). Prior to 2008 it was known as the
Homeland Union (Conservatives, Political Prisoners and the Exiled, Christian Democrats) or
TS. The last change of the name was a result of the merger with the
Lithuanian Nationalist Union on 11 March 2008, and the
Lithuanian Christian Democrats on 17 May 2008, after which the
Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats became Lithuania's largest party with more than 18,000 members. After these two mergers, youth wings of these parties (Young Nationalists Organisation and
Young Christian Democrats) became the Homeland Union's youth wings. During 2006 to 2008, the Homeland Union supported the
Statesmen () conspiracy theory, which claims that a
deep state in the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the
State Security Department of Lithuania (VSD) seeks to take control of the country. According to
Antanas Valionis, the party interpreted state security investigations into previous unexplained incidents, such as the
Bražuolė bridge bombing in 1994 and the bombing of the editorial office of
Lietuvos rytas in 1995, as a conspiracy against them. At the
2008 legislative election, the Homeland Union won 19.69 per cent of the national vote and 45 seats in the
Seimas. Becoming the largest party in the Seimas, it formed a coalition government with the
Liberal Movement,
Liberal and Centre Union and the
National Resurrection Party. Together, they held a majority of 80 out of 141 seats in the Seimas, and the Homeland Union's leader,
Andrius Kubilius, became
Prime Minister for a second time. In 2010, party's deputy chairman
Vidmantas Žiemelis resigned from the party and joined
Christian Party. It (along with the split in the
National Resurrection Party parliamentary group) caused
Kubilius–led government to become a minority one. In June 2011, the
Lithuanian Nationalist Union declared its withdrawal from the party, although Nationalist faction remained in the Homeland Union. In June 2012,
Aurelija Stancikienė resigned from the party and joined the
Way of Courage.
Opposition and the third government (2012–2024) Support for the party decreased in the 2012 parliamentary election, and it was excluded from the government. It was credited to many unpopular decisions made during the time of government, and the unpopularity of the Andrius Kubilius. In the
2014 European Parliament election, the party managed to defeat by narrow margin their main competitors, the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania. After 2015 municipal election, Andrius Kubilius resigned from party's leader position.
Subsequent leadership election was won by the
Member of European Parliament (and former advisor of Andrius Kubilius)
Gabrielius Landsbergis. Gabrielius Landsbergis initiated various changes in the party. Main change was that in large cities candidates to the Seimas were replaced with younger candidates, while older candidates moved rural constituencies (e. g.
Rasa Juknevičienė stood in
Aukštaitija single-member constituency instead of one in
Žaliakalnis) or removed altogether (e.g.
Arimantas Dumčius was expelled for remarks over
Adolf Hitler's economic policy). Between 2014 and 2016, the party was competing on the centre-right political wing with the Liberal Movement, but due to the so-called MG Baltic corruption scandal in May 2016, the Liberal Movement lost about half of its support. As a result of the scandal, the Homeland Union's support slightly increased at the
2016 legislative election (and it overtook the
Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union by 0.18 per cent), but, due to failure to win more single-member seats in Seimas, the number of seats held by the party fell to 31. After these elections, various pundits claimed that the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union could form coalition with the Homeland Union, but leader of Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union
Ramūnas Karbauskis proposed wide coalition between aforementioned parties and the Social Democratic Party. The Homeland Union's leader Gabrielius Landsbergis himself proposed coalition between the Homeland Union, the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and the
Liberal Movement, although both Ramūnas Karbauskis and Liberal Movement's leader
Eugenijus Gentvilas turned down this offer. Eventually, coalition was formed between the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, which lasted until the autumn of 2017. After Landsbergis
reelection as party's leader in 2017,
primaries were introduced for candidates to the presidential nominees and party list in parliamentary election. In 2018,
Mantas Adomėnas's membership in the party was suspended due to relations of MG Baltic and Adomėnas himself. Later, Adomėnas left Homeland Union's parliamentary group and the party itself. By autumn of 2018, the party held presidential primaries (the first party in Lithuania to do so), which were won by
Ingrida Šimonytė. Šimonytė's performance in
2019 presidential election raised possibility about her nomination to the first place on party's list and as the future Prime Minister. In 2020, members of the Homeland Union,
Rimantas Dagys and
Egidijus Vareikis formed new party, the
Christian Union. In the
2020 parliamentary election, the party won the most seats (50) and agreed to form coalition with the Liberal Movement and the
Freedom Party. In November 2020,
Ingrida Šimonytė became the new Prime Minister of a Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats-led coalition. In the
2023 municipal elections, the Homeland Union managed to win a mayorship of Vilnius (for the first time since 2011), but lost mayorships and majorities in rural councils. In
2024 presidential election Ingrida Šimonytė was selected as candidate from the party, but she lost incumbent President of Republic Gitanas Nausėda.
Again in opposition (from 2024) In the parliamentary election of the same year, the Homeland Union won 18.35 per cent of the vote, but won just 28 seats due to poor performance in single-member constituencies. Gabrielius Landsbergis announced his resignation as leader of the Homeland Union and as member of the
next Seimas. His vice,
Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, replacing him as interim leader. It triggered
new leadership election in 2025. ==Popular support==