The presidential election is going to court – Respublika.lt

On Wednesday, at a press conference in the Seimas, the question was raised, who is the actual leader of Lithuania today: President Gitanas Nausėda or Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė? Such a question arises due to the still unexamined situation of collecting signatures for I.Šimonytė.

The CEC itself has announced that when the collection of signatures began, paper ballots for signatures were distributed to all candidates, except for I. Šimonytė, who wanted to collect signatures only electronically and did so very quickly. At the press conference, the signatory Zigmas Vaišvila said that such decision of the CEC was illegal: “Unfortunately, the laws and the procedure established by the CEC do not allow providing electronic access without issuing paper sheets. The CEC, in apparent obedience to the will of the Prime Minister, gave her access to collect signatures online without issuing signature sheets, as the Prime Minister herself instructed. Apparently, the next day, after realizing that this was impossible, the CEC publicly announced that they had issued signature sheets, although there is no decision on this.”

Appealed to STT and the court

As indicated by Z. Vaišvila, he and former Seimas member Audrius Nak applied to the prosecutor’s office, which forwarded the question to STT. “STT is still waiting, we don’t have any news. We also asked to investigate how it is possible to collect more than 20 thousand in one day. signatures of support. We think this is a bluff.

Presidential candidate prof. Eduardas Vaitkus appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania regarding this situation, but the court refused to accept the appeal against the CEC’s decision, even though the appeal, according to the law, must be examined in this court. It is clear that the presidential election campaign is in full swing. “The court order is laughable because it instructs to apply to a lower court, although the CEC itself stated in its letter that its decision is appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania,” said Z. Vaišvila.

Can I. Šimonytė’s campaign be illegal?

E. Vaitkus himself assures that he does not blame I. Šimonytė in this situation: “She is not guilty that the CEC agreed to an illegal request not to issue her papers. But due to this illegal approval, the entire election campaign of I.Šimonytė became illegal. The administrative court judges broke the law by telling me to go to a lower court even though my complaint needs to be heard urgently. Therefore, I appealed to the president and the Court of Honor of Judges, asking them to initiate a disciplinary case against those three judges.”

E. Vaitkus also appealed to the Regional Administrative Court and asked the Chairperson of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania Skirgaile Žalimienė to resume the proceedings in the case due to an exceptional situation.

Z. Vaišvila says that nothing will end there: “Those who think that it is possible to send everyone away and the one who dared to show that the Prime Minister’s order is not yet a law, but the laws must be followed, are wrong.

I doubt whether it would be possible to impeach G. Nausėda before the elections, but I am sure that everything will be done to eliminate him from the elections, as well as Remigijus Žemaitaitis. It is obvious that I. Šimonytė is being prepared as a kind of preparation. There is an obvious desire to bulldoze I. Šimonytė into the presidency.”

Information

As the CEC itself recently reported, the commission is currently investigating more than a few dozen different complaints against presidential candidates. Most of the reports under consideration are related to E. Vaitkus and lawyer Igna Vēgėle. For both candidates, 5 reports are being considered. At that time, 3 complaints were being investigated against President G. Nausėda, and 2 complaints were being investigated each against Prime Minister I. Šimonytė, former Commander of the Lithuanian Army Valdas Tutkaus, and MP R. Žemaitaitis, accused of anti-Semitism.

The CEC is investigating complaints regarding the possible hidden political advertising of I. Vēgėlė, the report regarding the bouquet with the Russian flag delivered to the Government at the initiative of this candidate is being examined. In addition, 3 reports regarding the possible bribery of voters during the distribution of flowers at the Kaziuk fair are being investigated, as well as the case regarding the possibly unmarked political advertisement “Tik Tok”.

Complaints filed against the candidate E. Vaitkaus are related to possibly inappropriate activities in collecting signatures, as well as to unmarked political advertising on Facebook.

At that time, Mr. Nausėda was accused of using his status when he indicated his current position as president in a political advertisement. Questions also arose regarding the president’s use of official status and election campaigning during his visit to the Prienai district. In addition, the CEC is also investigating a complaint regarding the actions of the members of the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission delegated by the president. There is a similar complaint against I.Šimonytė. The latter is also complained about collecting electronic signatures.

In relation to V. Tutkaus, complaints have been filed indicating the possible bribery of voters by entertaining young people at the Kaunas Technology Training Center and a possible violation of the dissemination of political advertising.

Regarding R. Žemaitaitis, the CEC is currently investigating complaints related to advertising paid for by a legal entity on Facebook and meetings with voters that may violate existing regulations.

The CEC is also investigating a complaint against Giedrims Jeglinskas, the candidate of the Democratic Union “Vardan Lietuvos” regarding the marking of a political advertisement at a meeting with the World Lithuanian Student Organization, and against the leader of the “Darbiats” Andrias Mazuronis, regarding the activities of persons collecting signatures for his candidacy.

The commission is also examining the reports regarding the “peasant” candidate Aurelijas Veryga (appeals were made regarding a bus traveling in the Anykščiai district – mobile laboratory and distribution of calendars with A.Veryga’s political advertising) and the public institution headed by the former chairman of the Constitutional Court, Dainius Žalim.