Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 24th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview VIII. Local Services and Infrastructure Author(s) Arvydas Mikalauskas Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas Lithuania Title The Mayoral Election Reform in Lithuania: Research of the Citizens’ and Mayors’ Attitudes File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Arvydas Mikalauskas Abstract The paper analyses the case of self-government in Lithuania by focusing on the influence of the legitimization of direct mayoral elections on the self-government system of Lithuania. By utilising the reform divide between government and governance, it is observed that the changes in the self-government of Lithuania are, first and foremost, to be associated with the political perspective, which is enthusiastically supported by the citizens. The employed agent-principal approach highlights certain issues of self-government in Lithuania: the voters find it particularly important to have influence on the self-government politicians and officials, therefore the possibility of direct elections is highly appreciated. On the other hand, opportunistic behaviour of the elected mayor may emerge after the elections as a consequence of the characteristics of the self-government’s conjuncture and personal ambitions. Still, positive assessments of the mayors’ activities and the services provided by the municipalities imply that both the mayors and their voters are satisfied by the mutual contract.