Lithuanians started voting yesterday in parliamentary elections, with an impeached president and a Russian-born pickle magnate poised for a stunning political comeback.
The vote also features a referendum on whether to keep a flawed, Soviet nuclear plant operating beyond its scheduled closure.
If victorious, Rolandas Paksas’ Order and Justice and Viktor Uspaskich’s Labor Party could form the backbone of a new, populist coalition that would likely talk tough to Brussels and cozy up to neighboring Russia.
The governing Social Democrats, who have held the post of prime minister since 2001, are down in the polls and will struggle to pass the 5 percent barrier needed to make it into the Baltic state’s 141-member Seimas, or parliament.
A victory for the populists — who have promised to raise public sector salaries and halve the number of lawmakers — would be a tremendous blow for President Valdas Adamkus, who has fought bitterly with both Paksas and Uskaskich and has appealed to voters not to vote on an emotional impulse.
“I ask you to stand firm against short-term political dismay, anger and a feeling of revenge,” Adamkus said on Saturday.
Paksas was impeached in 2004 for violating the Constitution and abuse of office, making him the first European head of state to be impeached and removed from office. Though he is constitutionally barred from occupying public office, he could wield tremendous influence on the sidelines. His party already controls the mayor’s office in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital.
Uspaskich, who made his fortune in Lithuania selling jarred pickles, was forced to resign from the economy minister’s post after coming under investigation for a conflict of interest case involving Russia, where he was born.
Hounded by prosecutors, Uspaskich fled to Russia in May 2006, but eventually returned to Lithuania, where he was placed under house arrest. He is still under investigation, and although the house arrest has been lifted, he is barred from leaving Lithuania for six years.
In the meantime, Lithuania’s 2.6 million registered voters will be asked whether the Baltic state should postpone closing a Chernobyl-style nuclear plant in Ignalina slated for shutdown in December next year.
The plant’s design flaws scare EU members, who insist that it be closed, while Lithuanians claim that shutting down the unit, which gives them energy independence, will leave them subject to the whims of Russia, an unreliable energy supplier.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
RSS