VILNIUS - Parliament's main chamber looked more like a stadium of sports fans on Oct. 10, with some two dozen Labor Party members wearing white T-shirts with the slogan "Not for Sale" printed in both English and Lithuanian. The T-shirt convention was part of the Labor Party's recent "loyalty check" 's an unprecedented campaign where members pledge their allegiance to the party.
Those who signed the Labor Party statement of loyalty earned the right to wear a "Not for Sale" T-shirt. Only 24 of Labor's 41 legislators accepted the honor.
"We wanted to say to our colleagues from other parties that they should stop engaging in destruction and tell our supporters that the party is united and will continue its work," Jonas Pinskus, head of the Labor Party parliamentary faction, told The Baltic Times.
"We were forced to undertake some action in order to speed up the formation of committees in Parliament and to show everybody that there is nothing to wait for," Pinskus added.
The Labor Party, once the largest party in government with 41 seats out of Parliament's 141 in 2004, began to shrink when the ruling coalition broke apart early this year. After finding itself in the opposition, tension among Labor Party members grew. Party leader Viktor Uspaskich didn't help the situation; the Russian-born businessman was accused of fraudulently managing party finances and submitting misleading information to tax and election officials.
To avoid prosecution, Uspaskich fled Lithuania to Russia in May and stepped down as party chairman. In August, a Lithuanian court issued an international arrest warrant for Uspaskich.
Meanwhile, the Labor Party began to crumble. The first serious blow came when Parliament Speaker Viktoras Muntianas, once the closest ally of Uspaskich, seceded from the party with 12 fellow members to create the new Civic Democracy Union.
A few more Labor Party legislators followed Muntianas' example and joined the Social Democrat Party, leaving Parliament's once largest party with only 25 members and murky prospects for the future.
At that point, the loyalty affirmation idea was proposed. It took almost two weeks to collect the signatures of all but one Labor Party member. Only Ramune Visockyte refused to confirm her allegiance to the party, stating that she already took an oath when joining Parliament.
"My conscience will not allow me to swear in once again. I believe that an oath to my country and constituency is above commitments to my colleagues," Visockyte told journalists.
However, she did not quit the party, and Pinskus said sanctions would not be taken against her.
"On the whole, I am happy with the [loyalty statement]. It consolidated the party and wiped away all doubts about its unity," Pinskus said.
But not all agree.
Virginijus Savukynas, a political analyst and host of a popular public television program, said the "loyalty confirmation" action merely revealed the depth of the Labor Party's problems.
"Party membership itself should be a natural guarantee of loyalty, but it seems that this is not the case with the Labor Party," Savukynas told The Baltic Times. "On the other hand, the action reflects the general political situation in Lithuania, where switching from one party from another, often more than once, is quite common."
But Savukynas also noted that the Labor Party's loyalty campaign was a good public relations action.
"This performance with the T-shirts has attracted media attention. The Labor Party's unity was widely demonstrated, so the final result was quite good for them," Savukynas said.
