1. The Lithuanian Communists were ahead of their other Baltic equivalents in the late 80s in rebranding themselves as patriotic social democrats.
2. Lithuania doesn't have a very large Russian-speaking minority which tends to support a particular party (Keskerakond in Estonia, Harmony Centre in Latvia), which can then be represented as anti-national barely reconstructed Commies and against which the local right-wing parties can define themselves.
Although I think the Social Democrats in Estonia have been doing reasonably well in opinion polls lately.
