A seniūnija (in English: eldership, elderate, ward,parish, or subdistrict) is the smallest administrative division of Lithuania. An eldership could either be a very small region consisting of few villages, one single town, or part of a big city. Elderships vary in size and population depending on their place and nature. A few elderships make up a municipality. Šilainiai (Kaunas) and Dainava (Kaunas) are the most populous elderates, with population counts over 70,000, exceeding the population of some entire municipalities.
Elderships manage small scale local matters, such as repairing pavements, dirt roads, keeping records on all families living in the eldership. Its premise is that unlike with higher administrative divisions, an elder (leader of eldership) could have time to talk to every person in the eldership who wants to.
Modern Lithuania is divided into 10 counties, 60 municipalities, and 546 elderships. Elderships function as municipal districts. In cities, an elder is elected to each eldership district, along with a mayor for the city.
Coordinates: 55°N 24°E / 55°N 24°E / 55; 24
Lithuania (i/ˌlɪθjuːˈeɪniə/; Lithuanian: Lietuva [lʲɪɛtʊˈvɐ]), officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika), is a country in Northern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden and Denmark. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.9 million people as of 2015, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. Lithuanians are a Baltic people. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, are the only two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.
For centuries, the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, the King of Lithuania, and the first unified Lithuanian state, the Kingdom of Lithuania, was created on 6 July 1253. During the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe; present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were the territories of the Grand Duchy. With the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772–95, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory.
Lithuania is a country in Europe.
Lithuania can also refer to:
In European elections, Lithuania is a constituency of the European Parliament, currently represented by thirteen MEPs. It covers the member state of Lithuania.
As of October 2007
The 2004 European election was the sixth election to the European Parliament. However, as Lithuania had only joined the European Union earlier that month, it was the first election European election held in that state. The election took place on June 13.
For the 2009 election the number of seats was reduced to twelve.