Šimonytė: colleagues who did not declare their membership in the Communist Party acted very unwisely

Vilija Targamadzė, Algirdas Stončaitis, Zigmantas Balčytis, Laima Nagienė, members of the Democratic faction “Vardan Lietuvos” belonged to the Communist Party, as well as a member of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) faction Liudas Jonaitis, representatives of the Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union (LVŽS) faction Antanas Vinkus, Dainius Kepenis , Rimantė Šalaševičiūtė Algimantas Dumbrava.

Representatives of the current ruling majority of the Seimas – Tēvynės sąjugos-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) faction belonging to Kęstutis Masiulis and Algis Strelčiūnas and Freedom Party faction member Artūras Žukauskas, it is written in the research carried out by the portal 15min.

Most parliamentarians did not mention their past in the Communist Party.

ELTA reminds that the documents made public in April revealed that President Gitanas Nausėda in 1988 applied to join the Communist Party. The head of the country was silent about this circumstance of his biography.

The Presidency confirmed the publicized facts, but at the same time stated that G. Nausėda did not participate in the activities of the Communist Party after the beginning of Sąjūdis. After the resonance in the public space, G. Nausėda admitted in a comment to the media that joining the party was a mistake of his youth.

After the news portal 15min.lt found out that 12 members of the Seimas belonged to the Communist Party, Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen calls on parliamentarians to “refresh” their biographical facts and provide accurate information about their political past.

“This (research – ELTA) only shows once again that it is better for politicians to indicate and refresh those facts of the biography that may be important. Because sooner or later they will become clear anyway”, V. Čmilytė-Nielsen told reporters in the Seimas on Tuesday.

Therefore, V. Čmilytė-Nielsen intends to support the amendments to the Election Code submitted to the Seimas, which propose to oblige politicians to declare their affiliation to the former Communist parties and indicate the positions held in them.

“Both the group and I myself intend to agree. I think that support will be received”, she said.

“This is important if voluntarily, as we can see, (…) the norm does not work and some information is always forgotten. And, it seems, this fact is quite important in society. That way would be to oblige politicians and then everything would be clearer,” she said.

As previously reported, the files of 12 current parliamentarians were found in the documents of the Communist Party in the Lithuanian archives.

Vilija Targamadzė, Algirdas Stončaitis, Zigmantas Balčytis, Laima Nagienė, members of the Democratic faction “Vardan Lietuvos” belonged to the Communist Party, as well as a member of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) faction Liudas Jonaitis, representatives of the Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union (LVŽS) faction Antanas Vinkus, Dainius Kepenis , Rimantė Šalaševičiūtė , Algimantas Dumbrava. Kęstutis Masiulis and Algis Strelčiūnas, who belong to the faction of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) faction, and Artūras Žukauskas, a member of the Freedom Party faction, were also found on the lists of the Communist Party.

“Laisvietis” A. Žukauskas told journalists in the Seimas that in his biography submitted to the Central Election Commission (CEC) he indicated that he once belonged to the Communists. However, CEC data shows the opposite.

“As far as I remember, I indicated in the election questionnaire. I don’t hide that matter”, A. Žukauskas said in the parliament on Tuesday.

“At the time when I joined the Communist Party, I was working at the Physics Faculty of Vilnius University. And that party organization there, and the people who participated were my teachers, professors. I somehow had no doubts about their decency,” he explained.

The politician emphasized that he had no political decisions or obligations to act in the interest of the Communist Party.

“At that time, it was just a meeting of employees where opinions could be expressed and some decisions made. But I don’t remember political decisions – and I had no obligations,” he explained.
“I never hid it and we made jokes in the group,” the politician added.

At that time, the conservative K. Masiulis claims that he did not indicate his past in the Communist Party, because it is not mandatory.

“It was not necessary – I did not indicate it. I did not hide that information,” K. Masiulis told reporters in the Seimas.

“Beloved, I am glad for many of you that you are young and did not have to live in those times. I think that joining the Communist Party was a lie. Fraud. The whole era was a fraud,” he addressed the press.

The politician points out that he needed the party ticket because of his scientific ambitions.

“I had to join the Communist Party because I wanted to get into doctoral studies,” the conservative said.

“What does the past – the dirty, false past mean?” What more do you know about me? I will record that fact. Does that question me?” he asked.

At that time, K. Masiulis reacted ironically when asked whether politicians should be obliged to declare their membership in the Communist Party.

“It is much more important to record whether a person has been divorced three times and is now fighting for his family. Has the child been imprisoned in Palanga and is now a huge fan of the family?” asked a member of the Seimas.

Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė believes that parliamentarians who did not declare their former membership in the Communist Party in their official biographies acted “not very wisely”. The head of the government says that these members of the Seimas should not make excuses about their former party affiliation, but admit that they made a mistake.

“It seems to me that it would have been simpler if everyone had declared it. Since some colleagues declared, those colleagues who didn’t declare – well, how can I say, maybe they didn’t act very wisely”, I. Šimonytė told reporters in the Seimas on Tuesday.

“I think there’s no need to apologize, just admit it was a mistake,” she explained.

However, the Prime Minister said that she does not want to preach about past mistakes to her party colleagues or political opponents.

“You know, it’s very easy to preach and postulate when you don’t even have the technical ability to be a former member of the Communist Party. I don’t want to read those sermons to anyone”, said I. Šimonytė.

“Perhaps people thought that parties are only parties that are independent parties of Lithuania – what some people who did not declare it said. It was possible to assume some connections with the party of some people, considering their past careers and belonging to some political forces,” the politician continued.