Veryga himself commented on the situation
As A. Veryga himself told Žiniai radio, the decision to terminate his candidacy in the presidential elections was really well thought out, and the people who supported and supported him will definitely not be deceived.
“We really had a very heated, complex discussion and why we made such a decision is, first of all, because we, at least I or my colleagues, do not come to politics for posts, not for some position, but because we could implement certain ideas that are important to our constituents. Because of this, I think we not only do not deceive them, but we create opportunities that what is important to our voter are traditional values, family issues, regional issues, so that they have a real chance in the presidential elections”, said A. Very good.
In addition, the interviewer pointed out that his own rating was not so high.
“We have our polls where the reality is that, after all, my rating is not high and there are really quite a few candidates on our side of the political spectrum who are splitting the vote.” This is probably understandable to people. My resignation makes it possible for the second round of the presidential elections to be not the person we are very actively opposed to, I am talking about the current prime minister, but the person with whom our political views coincide – I am talking about Ignas Vēgėlė.
This is a very conscious decision, which is perhaps very unusual in Lithuania, but, I think, if you really look at places where such a political culture is perhaps older, you will see more than one such decision, when politicians, thinking about ideas and not about positions, decide to leave, in order for those ideas to be implemented”, explained A. Veryga.
A. Veryga evaluated candidate I. Vēgėlė’s ideas and various suggestions in more detail.
“There are things where our views really coincide. Everything doesn’t have to coincide, probably. The fact that Ignas Vēgėlė had criticism regarding the management of the pandemic – I can agree with him in some places, I can disagree. I would probably even agree in more places, and I myself have criticized the actions taken after the change of government – both opportunity passports and coercion, a certain pressure on vaccination, which worsened things, which is confirmed by the doctors themselves. I’m talking about the destroyed trust in the same vaccines, but there is only one detail here, only one issue, which is perhaps more clearly visible or recognizable in society, when it comes to Ignas Vēgėlė”, he said.
A. Veryga suggested looking at everything a bit more broadly.
“If we talk more broadly, it’s about family issues, about pension ratifications, about regional politics, defense and other things – we really spent a good two hours trying to find out, before the council takes this step, what our attitudes are and I can say , that in the absolute majority of cases we really are the same in our attitudes. I say that our decision is very easily explained. We want our ideas to have the opportunity to be represented”, said A. Veryga.
He said who will benefit from such a decision of the peasants
Matas Baltrukevičius, an analyst at the Vilnius Institute of Political Analysis, also shared insights and assessments about the Peasants’ Party’s decision to withdraw A. Veryga’s candidacy in the presidential election. As the analyst himself stated, he had not thought about such a scenario in advance, but the first rumors about it that appeared in public seemed really convincing to him.
“It is not the case that one can mechanically transfer votes from one candidate to another, but, of course, it is probably beneficial for Vēgėli that Aurelijus Veryga is not present, but it can also be beneficial for Gitan Nausėda as well. We will need to collect those votes, we really need an even more active, even more effective election campaign for Ignas Vēgēle. It’s not that simple,” he pointed out.
It is true, according to M. Baltrukevičius, due to this decision of the peasants, the pressure on the candidate I. Šimonyta increases somewhat, but the interlocutor does not foresee their active involvement in further election processes.
“I think that we will not see from the side of the peasants that they themselves will be very active in the presidential election campaign. For the time being, it is beneficial for Vegele to keep his distance. It is realistic that this agreement may be preliminarily related to the Seimas elections, but Vēgėlė very correctly thanked the peasants for their support, mentioned other parties that support him and, in this case, he needs to be alone, not to tie himself too much to any parties, to strive for the maximum good result. The better he performs, the more his value in the eyes of the parties increases before the Seimas elections,” said M. Baltrukevičius.
Although both A. Veryga himself and the Peasants’ Party mention that the decision to withdraw A. Veryga’s candidacy was well thought out and considered, nevertheless, it seems quite pragmatic.
“I would say that maybe the peasants themselves made such a rather last-second decision and, in reality, April 2nd is the last day when the presidential candidates can change their minds, which, I think, is probably even in the mind of Karbauskis, the great strategist of the peasants, this idea appeared not so long ago, but we managed to coordinate everything and we have a result”, said M. Baltrukevičius, an analyst at the Vilnius Institute of Political Analysis.
You can find the entire interview on the News Radio portal:
