Systemic parties created order for themselves – Respublika.lt

L. Meškauskaitė is included in the list of candidates for the EP of one small party – the Lithuanian List. However, this party needs 10,000 signatures just to be allowed to participate in the elections, while some other parties do not need to collect signatures.

The Election Code approved by the Seimas of the current term stipulates that at least 10,000 voters must support candidates for the EP list with signatures.

“This requirement does not apply to the lists put up by political parties that have participated in the last European Parliament elections and have collected more votes than the required minimum number of voter signatures supporting the list established in this article,” the code states.

Lawyer Ludvika MEŠKAUSKAITĖ states: “Of course, this is discrimination, because the major parties can collect more votes in the elections, because they receive state grants, while the others do not (those that performed most successfully during the previous elections of the Seimas, municipal councils and the European Parliament receive them, – author’s post) . There is practically no chance for new parties to win anything.

Do you think I want to go into politics? I really don’t want to. However, I am participating because I want to help the dwarfs who have almost no chance, the big parties have conquered everything (it is true, if I won, I would do everything to meet the expectations of the voters). The dwarfs have no structures because they get no money and the big parties have everything. Terrible things are happening now – federalization, so that the EU becomes almost one state, and the like,” emphasized L. Meškauskaitė.

The lawyer reminded that the big parties create the laws themselves, which determine which parties will receive taxpayers’ money, who needs to collect signatures, and who doesn’t.

“That’s why we have to be active and try to get new faces in the government structures. It is necessary for people to appear who will fight so that our Constitution does not become just paper,” the lawyer emphasized.

According to her, as long as we vote only for party lists, there will be no real elections.

“Real elections are only when a person can choose a specific person: so that it is possible to choose not 5 people from one list, but the personalities you like from different lists. Because maybe you like two in one batch, and others not so much, but there are ones you like in other lists.

But, thank God, there is still a possibility to rank: if a politician is 10th on the list, you can rank and he will become the first. But, unfortunately, our election system is still such that it is practically impossible for new forces to come”, – stated L. Meškauskaitė.

Perhaps the solution would be to regulate election issues by referendum?

“It is difficult to change something with a referendum. People are disappointed. There will be a referendum on dual citizenship in May (by the way, I am against it). All important issues must be resolved by referendum. However, they are very difficult to organize because the bar is set very high. If the Seimas organized itself, it would submit the question to the referendum in such a way that it would benefit the major parties.

By the way, the issue of dual citizenship is raised as follows: Article 12 of the Constitution needs to be changed; but it is not formulated directly how that dual citizenship is to be granted. It was only said that the Seimas will determine citizenship issues. In other words, people will vote for the cat in the bag during the referendum – if we agree to dual citizenship, the Seimas will be able to decide under what conditions to grant it. A paradox. People don’t trust the Seimas anyway, and with a referendum we will have to give it the right to decide such matters,” L. Meškauskaitė summarized.