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The draft amendment to the Constitution initiated by the President of Parliament Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, which would legalize the direct election of mayors without defining the powers of the mayor and the relationship with the municipal council, received 120 parliamentary support, 1 member of the Seimas voted in against and 2 abstained.
At that time, a project initiated by the faction of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), which, in addition to the election method, also proposed to define the functions of a directly elected mayor, consolidating his status as president of the municipal council and head of government . the municipality, was rejected by the majority of the rulers, by 3 votes to 61 and 61 abstentions
This voting process provoked the discontent of the opposition representatives who supported the Seimas Spokesperson project. Opposition leader Saulius Skvernelis claimed after the vote that the rulers, who supported the LSDP project, could have mobilized different factions to find a compromise, but the rulers were hopeful.
“We could have laid a solid foundation for further compromise, but that vote, the rejection of the proposal by my fellow Social Democrats, practically undermined the hope that we would have the necessary votes to amend the Constitution,” Skvernelis said after the vote. on the LSDP proposal.
According to the “peasant”, the opposition before the vote could have expected that the ruling parliamentarians, who did not want to define specific functions of the mayor in the Constitution, would be inclined to consult with the opposition, but the vote showed that the trust politicians in the right-wing coalition.
“It is expected that after the approval of the amendment to the Constitution initiated by the president of Seimas, we can reach a compromise on who is the mayor and what functions he has to perform, there is no confidence now. I think we made a big mistake, ”said the opposition leader.
Meanwhile, Jurgis Razma, a member of the ruling Union National-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) faction, after a failed vote for the Social Democrats, claimed that after MPs supported the Seimas president’s project, he simply did not have sense to support another proposal.
“I think that by voting here we are not deciding on some kind of relationship, but on the merits. The ideas of the Social Democrats fit fully into that more general draft amendment to the Constitution, which we supported by a large majority. It is a waste of time with another project and to hold the committee responsible for the final decision ”, explained the Conservator.
J. Razma’s words provoked the discontent of Vytautas Gapšis, a member of the Labor Party faction.
“It seems that here there is no longer any need to speak, but after Jurgis Razma’s speech, only the phrase remains: why waste time with democracy and parliamentary procedures, if you are still not interested in them,” said a “worker” accompanied by applause from members of the opposition.
However, before presenting the vote, the Social Democrat Eugenijus Sabutis had hinted that if the LSDP project was finally rejected in the Seimas, he would support the Seimas Speaker project, since it would be much worse to return to the old order of mayoral elections. .
“I have answered a simple question for myself: if we have two options and one, let’s say, ceases to exist, it is to kill the second only to go back to the days before 2015, when the 25 members gathered mayors, shared posts and after the evening session informed that there will be people who will govern it, I do not want that to be the case. In the name of a political settlement, we should support a remaining option, “said E. Sabutis.
ELTA recalls that the need to reform the basic law of the country arose after April 19. The Constitutional Court has declared that the procedure for direct election of mayors is in conflict with article 119 of the Constitution. This question was addressed to the CC by 46 parliamentarians from the previous legislature, mostly conservatives, as well as by various liberals, “workers” and former “politicians.” This resolution will enter into force in 2023. on May 3, which means that the current mayors will be able to serve until the end of their term.
In response to the decision of the CC, the president of the Seimas V. Čmilytė-Nielsen initiated a meeting of the elders of the Seimas factions, where the parliamentarians managed to reach an agreement on the amendment of article 119 of the Constitution in order to preserve the procedure for direct elections of mayors. The Seimas Spokesperson then stated that she looked forward to the presentation of the respective amendment already in this spring session and was optimistic about the possibility of collecting the necessary 94 supporting votes.
However, already in the second meeting of the elders of the group, in which the regulations of the procedure for the election of direct mayors were further discussed, the opinions of the parliamentarians differed to define the powers of the directly elected mayor. The president of the Seimas and the conservatives then proposed to consider the mayor as the executive of the municipality, and the faction of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), whose proposal was largely supported by the ruling Freedom Group, the Mixed Seimas and the peasants of the opposition. “, proposed the mayor as head of the council. Maintaining the current model.
For this reason, in search of a consensus, the president of the Seimas in mid-May spoke about the elaboration of a so-called compromise wording of article 119 of the Constitution, the approval of which would preserve the direct elections of mayors. The president explained that it was proposed to introduce direct elections for mayors, but that the basic law of the country did not specify the relationship between the powers of the mayor and the council. Such a wording, according to V. Čmilytė-Nielsen, would be the least possible evil to obtain the 94 votes necessary to amend the Constitution. However, such a proposal in the opposition Lithuanian Social Democratic Party immediately raised questions about the stability of the institutions of self-government, which
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