During the LRT debates held on Wednesday evening, the candidates were asked whether the Constitutional Court’s (CT) interpretation of the Istanbul Convention – that it does not contradict the country’s most important law – is an argument for its ratification.
Self-nominated candidate Ignas Vēgėlė testified that the Istanbul Convention is an ideological document that introduces the concept of social gender. Therefore, he called on G. Nausėdas, who is seeking re-election, to withdraw this convention, which was submitted to the Seimas for ratification by his predecessor, Dalia Grybauskaitė, who has completed her term.
“The Istanbul Convention introduces social gender. Gender is mentioned at least 20 or 25 times. And biological sex (in the convention – ELTA) is mentioned only once”, said I. Vēgėlė.
“I would really encourage the president to withdraw this proposal to ratify the convention,” he assured.
In turn, the head of the country assured that there was no reason to act in this way.
“And why should I protect the Seimas like small children from the responsibility of making one or another decision?” G. Nausėda asked rhetorically.
The President seconded the other candidates as well, noting that the issue of social gender causes the most controversy regarding this document.
“My approach is simple. The Istanbul Convention consists of two parts. Regarding violence against women, everything is clear here, but I don’t know how the Istanbul Convention would substantially improve the situation. (…) Meanwhile, part of genderism divides Lithuanian society. And let’s say what we want – it is dividing Lithuanian society. Is this what we want in the current geopolitical situation? Do we want another spark to appear in our mutual relations, when we really need unity?” asked the head of the country.
He also criticized the rulers’ initiative to refer to the CT regarding the Istanbul Convention, implying that such a move was disingenuous.
“You know, maybe I would believe that it was actually sincerely sought to find out the opinion of the Constitutional Court regarding the compliance of the Istanbul Convention with the Constitution, if you accept that convention. But you won’t accept it. And, I think, you only applied for that in order to gain more time – to drag it out until autumn, and it’s already autumn, there are elections,” added G. Nausėda.
Accusations of sexism poured in
At that time, the former chairman of the Constitutional Court, candidate for the presidency of the Freedom Party, Dainius Žalimas, while listening to G. Nausėda, regretted the position of the current head of the country in relation to the Istanbul Convention and women’s rights.
“It is disappointing to me when the president of the state defends the stereotypical view of women, which we have just heard. Defends the attitude that justifies such discriminatory behavior against women, the “it’s your own fault” attitude, or lures foreign soldiers with stories about beautiful women in Lithuania. The Istanbul Convention is about that, by the way,” D. Žalimas criticized G. Nausėdas.
He assured that the document, which receives ambiguous assessments, does not talk about the construct of social gender, but emphasizes the importance of prevention against humiliating behavior and sexism.
“And education is aimed specifically at treating women as human beings. And here, what I hear is an excuse,” he referred to the statements of other candidates.
The last phrase of D. Žalim did not take long to receive reactions from his opponents.
“The former chairman of the Constitutional Court is cool – it turns out that women were animals until that time, now they are becoming people. I wonder what we will agree to at the end of the debate”, wondered Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of the party “Nemunos ausra”, who is aspiring for the post of the country’s leader.
“The most sexist speech I heard today was from Mr. Žalimos,” stated A. Mazuronis.
Tensions also arose between I. Šimonytė and G. Nausėda
Due to the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, tension also arose between G. Nausėda and Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė. During the debate, the President raised a rhetorical question, how many more times will those in power go to the elections promising to ratify this document and not do so.
“Let’s talk about the fact that the Freedom Party, the Patriotic Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats, the Liberal movement have a majority – well over 70. This majority is always enough for them when they need to reject my veto. But on these issues, which they promised to their voters, at least the Freedom Party, (…) is not successful in making decisions”, said G. Nausėda.
“This is my question to you – how many more times will you go to the elections, promising the same thing over and over again and not implementing it during the term?”, he asked.
However, I. Šimonytė replied that the president seeking a second term is trying to make a “straw scarecrow” out of the Istanbul Convention.
“It seems to me that this is the case when, when accusing political forces that someone goes to the elections with some kind of genderist ideology, it is just the opposite of going to the elections by trying to make a straw scarecrow and beat that straw scarecrow,” she emphasized.
The candidate nominated by the conservatives also pointed out that the social democrats who supported G. Nausėdas in the elections support the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. Therefore, I. Šimonytė urged G. Nausėdas to support the position of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) on this issue.
“I want to remind you that the chairperson of the social democratic party that supported or supported him was the chairwoman of the Committee on Women’s Affairs during her time in the European Parliament, and as far as I know, the party really supports the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. It would be nice if the majority of politicians who are determined to vote for it join the convention and the convention is ratified,” she said.
G. Nausėda retorted that negotiations with the Social Democrats are his personal business.
“Leave it to me, dear Ingrida, to come to an agreement with the Social Democratic Party. I don’t need the help of conservators here,” he emphasized.
ELTA reminds that the Constitutional Court (CT) clarified in March that the controversial Istanbul Convention does not contradict the Constitution.
In September of last year, the Seimas appealed to the CT with a request to assess the compliance of the Istanbul Convention with the Constitution.
The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence was adopted in 2011. Lithuania signed this document in 2013. in June, but the Seimas has not yet ratified the convention.
Fierce discussions continued regarding the civil union: the prime minister reminded the president of unfulfilled promises
The heated debates between presidential candidates continued when discussing the civil union bill, which arouses a lot of passion in society. G. Nausėda, who does not hide his skepticism about this initiative, called on the rulers and the prime minister to take the initiative themselves and close it from 2020. Let’s tackle a difficult question.
“The document, the project is in the Seimas. The ruling majority is the Seimas. Where is the result?”, asked G. Nausėda during the debate and called on I. Šimonytė to take the lead.
“You say that you will convince, dear Ingrida, so why don’t you convince,” the head of the country addressed the prime minister.
“I’m persuading. I am the kind of politician who has the courage to say that decisions must be made regardless of what the polls show. I’m not trying to sit on two chairs, when I have a little respect for people who want to solve these issues, but I’m also a little afraid, because polls show that 60 percent does not support the initiative of the residents”, the Prime Minister replied to the President, reminding that G. Nausėda himself made a promise five years ago to wear an LGBT badge and thus stand in solidarity with this community.
“There is no need for these references, because my position on this issue has not changed,” replied G. Nausėda.
The President explained that, in his opinion, the draft law on Civil Union has a number of shortcomings. However, he added, it is necessary to listen to the opinion of the public.
“If people’s opinion is not important, then say it directly on the screen,” said G. Nausėda.
“It is possible to analyze whether it (the draft law – ELTA) is good or bad, but there are articles that, in my opinion, conflict too much with Article 38 of the Constitution of Lithuania. Let’s stop misleading people, let’s stop circumventing the Constitution, because this is unfair”, said G. Nausėda.
However, such arguments of the president seeking a second term did not convince the former chairman of the CT, D. Žalim.
“President, it is you who is lying here, not someone else. That pharisaism can be seen, because in the previous debates you respected the Constitutional Court regarding pensions, and now you are calling for the Constitutional Court to be disregarded”, noted D. Žalimas.
Tags: accusations sexism calls withdraw document submitted Seimas poured
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