SHOULD HE STAY OR SHOULD HE GO: On Aug. 20, President Dalia Grybauskaite urged Parliament Chairman Arunas Valinskas (right) to resign, but the latter then refused. This photo was made on July 12 during Grybauskaite's inauguration.
VILNIUS - Parliament Chairman Arunas Valinskas tried to tell his story to the nation, but he is now history. Sept. 15 was Judgment Day for him. MPs ousted Valinskas from his post. After the secret ballot, the result was as follows, 95 MPs voted in favor of Valinskas' resignation, 20 MPs voted against it while nine MPs' ballots were recognized as not valid.
"Valinskas' behavior and his lifestyle are not acceptable," Valentinas Mazuronis, leader of parliamentary opposition, said in the parliament before the vote.
"The prosecutor general's office and State Security Department stated that I have no relations with criminals," Valinskas said in his speech in the parliament before the vote. He described himself as the "victim of a smear campaign and blackmail." Valinskas emphasized that the accusation against him is "artificial scandal."
On Sept. 7, all Lithuanian TV stations broadcast pre-recorded statements of Valinskas' appeal to the nation. "Don't be angry, I'm not saying 'Bye'," Valinskas said in his appeal denying all accusations and saying that the attack against him is an attack against the entire ruling center-right coalition.
On Aug. 20, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite urged Valinskas to resign because of media accusations against him. However, he refused to do so.
In the media Valinskas was accused of communicating with Rolandas Michalskis, alias Micha, who is an alleged member of the Kaunas-based Daktarai gangster group. Michalskis' wife and her sister are active members of Valinskas' political party in the Kaunas region. The accusation comes from his former party colleagues, the crumbling National Resurrection Party, established by Valinskas last year. This political party of former showmen did split into two rival factions in the parliament though both of them belong to the same center-right ruling coalition. According to Valinskas, his wife became a friend of current Michalskis' wife a long time before the latter got acquainted with Michalskis, and became his wife.
On Sept. 4, Henrikas Daktaras, 51, leader of the 1978-established Daktarai gang, was detained through a successful joint operation of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry, Europol and the Lithuanian Interior Ministry. The alleged leader of the Lithuanian mafia was arrested in the small coastal town of Kranevo, Bulgaria. However, there is no proof that Valinskas had something to do with the Daktarai gang. On Sept. 15, during a parliamentary debate before the secret ballot, MPs spoke more about his lack of competency and political experience than his shady ties. MPs also complained about Valinskas' arrogant communication style.
According to LNK TV's investigative journalism program Paskutine Instancija, Valinskas' ties with the mob can be strongly exaggerated by his rivals-former friends of the same political party. Behind the latter stands controversial businessman Gediminas Ziemelis, owner of the bankrupt Lithuanian airline FlyLAL. Ziemelis allegedly wanted to take the transport minister's post for his man to help his FlyLAL with state money. However, Ziemelis did not receive enough support from Valinskas, according to Paskutine Instancija.
According to MPs and political analysts, the center-right ruling coalition will stay in power while the most probable candidate to replace Valinskas in the post of parliament's chairman is Irena Degutiene, MP of the Homeland Union - Lithuanian Christian Democrats. This would make Lithuania a feminists' dream - women now already occupy the posts of president, defense minister and finance minister.
