VILINIUS - Vilnius' former mayor Juozas Imbrasas has left his office after losing a vote of no-confidence in the city council on Feb. 11, but has vowed to fight the decision in court.
The ousted mayor filed a complaint with the Vilnius District Administrative Court on Feb. 13 pleading for a reversal to the city council's decision, arguing that the no-confidence vote was illegitimate.
Imbrasas had postponed the Feb. 11 city council meeting that resulted in a 29-0 vote in favor of his removal from office, but the council decided to meet anyway. The council cited Imbrasas' mismanagement of public works and filling posts based on loyalty to the Order and Justice Party instead of merit as reasons for the impeachment.
At first Imbrasas refused to recognize the council's decision and vowed that he would remain in office. The newly-appointed mayor, Vilius Navickas, a former city council member, began work on Feb. 19 in another office.
"I'm working in the office. When the court reaches its verdict, we'll give over the office and wish them luck," Imbrasas told the Baltic News Service.
The next day, however, Imbrasas relented and turned the keys over.
"He (Imbrasas) has passed the keys of the office and everything on Friday last week," Mindaugas Savickas, chief officer of public relations for the Vilnius municipal government, told The Baltic Times on Feb. 17.
"The reasons that were given [for the impeachment process] were that the municipality is not able to deal with common issues of daily services of the city," Savickas said. "In their opinion he didn't have a qualified team for managing the city, for the European cultural capital. They were not dealing correctly with the city council."
Judge Donatas Vancevicius will decide whether the court will hear the complaint or not. His office could not give a timeline as to when a ruling will be made.
In the meantime Navickas, who previously served as a member of the city council's finance and economy committee, has promised to govern differently than Imbrasas 's especially with regards to business regulation. Navickas was nominated by the members of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrat political group and those of the Liberal and Center Union, the Liberal Movement, the Independent group and Social Democrats.
Navickas, formerly the general manager of the construction firm Euro-Construct, supports streamlining municipal regulations on business.
"He is going to make the business environment easier," Savickas said. "He thinks that city regulation is too big, like he says that we don't need this detailed regulation, that it can be smaller."
Navickas is also looking to trim the city budget.
"He thinks that, for example, earlier, when Imbrasas was the mayor, it was offered 1 million litas for public relations. He thinks it is not necessary 1 million, maybe we can save on that," Savickas said.
Other measures Navickas has proposed include a cultural events discount card for elderly citizens and neighborhood safety programs.
"He [Navickas] has the necessary management skills and the right experience to take the job," said Raimundas Alekna, the Vilnius city councilor and leader of the Conservative faction of the city council.
"A new majority has already formed, and it will follow the principles that the Vilnius municipality stated in its program 's not chase the better work positions for members," he said.
This year has so far been a turbulent one for Lithuania's capital. In addition to the impeachment of the mayor, the city was rocked by violent protests in January that caused millions of litas in damage. After being the first city in Eastern Europe to receive the European Union Capital of Culture designation this year, the committee in charge of those events is under investigation for embezzlement by the prosecutor general.
