The vote to reject the president's veto on International Labor Day was 78 MPs in favor, 20 against and five abstaining. The majority vote came from MPs of the left-wing opposition Social Democratic faction as well as the ruling Social Liberals.
Two-thirds of the center-right Liberal faction, which runs the ruling coalition with the Social Liberals, also joined in the voting in favor of May 1 as an official holiday. Only 71 votes in the affirmative out of the total 141 are needed to overcome the presidential veto.
The president had proposed rejecting amendments adopted by the Parliament to the country's law on holidays and commemorative days and to leave things as they were before, with May Day simply a commemorative occasion and not a day off work.
"The May 1 holiday is associated with the occupation of Lithuania and lost independence for most of our society," said Armanas Abramavicius, Adamkus' adviser on legal issues, explaining the position of his boss.
In neighboring Poland, May 1 always provokes violent incidents between marching leftists and young radical right-wing activists.
During the Soviet occupation, almost the entire population was obliged to march waving Soviet flags and portraits of the Soviet leaders in front of communist bosses in the main squares and streets of towns.
Lithuania has been the only country in the region not celebrating May 1 as an official holiday. One of the main arguments of Lithuanian May 1 fans is the fact that the date is a state holiday in most of the countries of the European Union, Latvia, Poland and Estonia.
The Social Democrats say that May 1 has nothing to do with communism, and that the communists just exploited this American-born workers' holiday.
The Social Democrats and some trade unions have celebrated May 1 in recent years even though it was a workday. In the evening the leftist politicians and workers commonly gather at long tables crowded with beer. They drink and sing folk songs. Later, more contemporary Lithuanian music is put on and everybody dances.
The morning after, a woman working in the milk factory boasts to all her colleagues about how she danced a waltz or tango with Algirdas Brazauskas, head of the Social Democrats and the most popular politician in Lithuania. Unlike Berlin, Moscow or London, there are no protests against capitalism in Lithuania.
The May 1 issue raised an emotional debate in the Parliament. "May 1 was celebrated very pompously by the National Socialists in Germany in Hitler's times," said Conservative MP Jurgis Razma.
"Social surveys say that more than half of the population want May 1 to be a holiday," countered Social Democrat MP Gediminas Kirkilas.
"When I was a schoolboy we went to plant trees because May 1 was 'Tree Planting Day.' Now this day has other name. I see no problem if it's celebrated," Christian Democrat MP Kazys Bobelis said.
In pre-war Lithuania, May 1 was a state holiday called International Labor Day between 1919 and 1929. In 1929, May 1 became "Tree Planting Day" until the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1940.
On the same day the Parliament shot down the president's veto on the Law on Gambling and passed it without the amendments proposed by the president. The law was passed by a vote of 78 in favor, 18 against and seven abstentions.
The Liberal, Social Democrat and Conservative factions voted against veto. The Social Liberals supported the presidential position, but failed against the Parliament's united right and left flanks.
Under the law on gambling, automatic gaming, bingo, roulette, card games, dice games, and betting will be legal in Lithuania from July 1, 2001.
"It's a pity. The president was not against a law legalizing gambling. He just wanted to pass some anti-corruption improvements," Abramavicius said.
The president had suggested amending the law with anti-corruption instruments, proposing a procedure for the cancellation of licenses. He proposed to set up a supervisory commission on gambling, comprised of the chairman of the Parliament, the prime minister and the president's delegates, which would have the power of deciding where gambling houses can be established.
Time was running out. Some observers warned that the Liberals had no time to improve the law, which would have taken some time. Many buildings in central Vilnius and other towns have already been sold to future casinos.
The Lithuanian media is awash with details about a meeting between the leaders of the ruling Liberal faction and the opposition Social Democrat faction in the morning of May 17, before the parliamentary sitting. They made a deal that enabled them to overcome Adamkus' vetoes.
The Liberals promised to support the Social Democrats on the May 1 holiday vote., while the Social Democrats promised to support the Liberals in overcoming the presidential veto on the gambling issue.
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