Political fights follow municipal elections

VILNIUS - The municipal elections of March 19 remain topical discussion number one for politicians, political analysts and the media. These elections are widely considered a rehearsal before the parliamentary elections this fall.

At the same time, newly elected members of municipal councils are solving more practical issues - forming ruling and opposition coalitions in the local councils.

Leftists are coming?

The New Union (Social Liberals) gained the greatest number of seats in the councils of municipalities, 270 out of 1,562 seats in municipalities throughout Lithuania. The Peasants' Party with 209 seats came second. The third was the Conservative Party with 199 seats.

Vytautas Landsbergis, leader of the Conservatives, expressed concern about this outcome during a press conference on March 22.

"Victory of leftists does not make a good image about Lithuania in international democratic opinion," he said.

"It is a pity that some politicians consciously or unconsciously are leaning towards Russia's position about NATO and the European Union," Arvydas Akstinavicius, MP of the Party Social Democracy 2000, said. He specifically accused Ramunas Karbauskis, leader of the Peasants' Party and Arturas Paulauskas, leader of the New Union, of such tendencies.

Lithuanians are used to this kind of rhetoric, but it might be misunderstood in the West and harm the country's integration in Western structures, Paulauskas countered.

"There are no alternatives for the country's membership in NATO and the EU," he said.

Karbauskis said, "Integration in the EU will be stopped after the parliamentary elections." That was said on March 20. However, the next day, after meeting with President Valdas Adamkus, the farmers party's leader softened his views and said that he is in favor of Lithuania's integration in the EU and NATO. Karbauskis started to speak in favor of a slow EU integration, saying that quick accession can damage the economic interests of Lithuanian farmers. The municipal elections were seen by many through the lens of the parliamentary elections coming this fall. Political analysts were interested more in percentages of votes parties gained throughout the country than in the numbers of seats won by various parties in local municipalities.

Throughout the country, the New Union collected some 16 percent of the votes. The Liberal Union of Rolandas Paksas came in second with 13 percent, followed by the Conservative Party with 11 percent. Nobody won in these elections because 16 percent is too low a figure, said political analyst Rimvydas Valatka. The coalition of the Peasants' Party of Karbauskis and the Christian Democratic Union of Kazys Bobelis won a lot of seats in the municipal councils of small rural constituencies but had no success in the big towns. The stronghold of the Liberal Union was the big cities.

The balance between votes given to right and left parties throughout the country is 50-50, said Rasa Alisauskiene, director of the social research firm Baltijos Tyrimai.

Fights for mayoral posts

While political analysts were discussing the meaning of the electorate's choice, newly elected members of municipal councils were fighting for mayoral posts.

In Kaunas the Freedom Union, led by eccentric Vytautas Sustauskas, won the municipal elections. However, he did not gain an absolute majority of seats. Other parties are trying to overcome their divisions and to form a ruling coalition without the Freedom Union.

The biggest fights were going on for the chair of Vilnius mayor, the most prestigious municipal post in Lithuania.

Vilnius has been known as the biggest sympathizer with the Liberal Union of Rolandas Paksas in recent months. This can be illustrated by the change of colors by Juozas Imbrasas, former Vilnius mayor. He was elected to his post as a representative of the Conservatives in summer 1999. However, because of public opinion, he switched to the Liberal Union on the eve of municipal elections. Imbrasas intuition was good. He was included on the Liberals' election list and elected to the Vilnius municipal council.

The Liberal Union won elections in Vilnius but did not receive a clear majority of seats in the city council.

After the elections, the Center Union announced the creation of a coalition with the New Union, Social Democratic Party, and Democratic Labor Party. This center-left coalition nominated Algis Caplikas from the Center Union to the post of mayor.

However, the Liberal Union was not sleeping. It formed a coalition with a Polish party, Polish Electoral Action, promising this minor faction the post of vice mayor.

Which bloc will fill the post of mayor depended on the city council coalition among the Conservative Party and the Political Prisoners and Deportees Union.

On March 26 the Conservatives and Political Prisoners joined a coalition with the Liberals and the Polish party, creating an alliance of 30 city council members out of a total 51. It is expected that this big coalition will select Paksas for Vilnius mayor.

"We have more sympathies to rightist parties," Algirdas Ciucelis, a Conservative member of the Vilnius city council, explaining his party's decision to create an alliance with the Liberals.