A member of the Seimas did not swear in his own name – Respublika.lt

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Vigilijus Jukna had to sign the text of the Seimas member’s oath, which did not contain his name. Photo of the Chancellery of the Seimas

In a solemn session on Friday, chaired by Antanas Vinkus, the oldest member of the Seimas, 135 newly elected or re-elected Seimas members were sworn in, but the procedure was not without misunderstandings. The oath of former Agriculture Minister V. Jukna seemed more strange. He read the text without adding a hand to the Constitution, but when the text of the oath had to be signed, the politician whispered to Dainius Žalimas, the president of the Constitutional Court who had passed his term in the spring but was still working. “He only nodded. with his head helpless, but an employee of the Seimas Chancellery, having distributed the texts of the oath to the members of the Seimas, shouted: “We are going to correct.”

V.Jukna “Vakaro žinios” did not explain what error was left in the oath document, but judging from the transmission, “Virgilijus” was added instead of “Vigilijus”.

There were more misunderstandings. Some parliamentarians tried to swear without putting their hands on the Constitution and they did so only after reminding D. Žalimas. Several older people took the opportunity to swear without the last sentence: “God help me.”

The MP, outgoing Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga, was also strange. He took the oath dressed in a national costume, the component of which was a hat. The veiled politician did not remove himself even under oath.

By the way, while politicians were warned that the pandemic would require signing with separate pens, only a few brought theirs. Others had to be replaced after each oath, and the pens purchased by the Seimas Chancellery went into the pockets of the elect. Interestingly, although the text of the oath is extremely laconic, no parliamentarian has dared to swear without reading the text. Even those who swear are far from being the first time.

It is also interesting that Rasa Budbergytė, Algimantas Dumbrava, Petras Gražulis, Kęstutis Glaveckas did not even register for the first real (work) session of the Seimas immediately afterwards. He cursed and disappeared somewhere.

And the first meeting of the new legislature took place like all first meetings. In particular, a new head of parliament was elected. As expected, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, representative of the Liberal Movement, became him. It’s probably not a surprise that the first vice president was the conservative Jurgis Razma. And the third member of the new Seimas Board couldn’t be surprised. He became the representative of the smallest opposition fraction, the Labor Party, Andrius Mazuronis. The decision of the Seimas president V.Čmilytė-Nielsen to nominate A. Mazuronis for the Seimas caused a real storm.

Ramūnas Karbauskis, the leader of the “peasants”, did not understand why the representative of the smallest opposition “peasant” fraction was nominated for this position, but the smallest. According to him, the “peasants” had coordinated the candidacy of Aušrinė Norkienė with V. Čmilyte-Nielsen. Social Democrats also expressed outrage, suspecting behind-the-scenes deals.

The Statute of the Seimas stipulates that the right to be represented in the governing bodies of the Seimas must be guaranteed to the opposition. This has also been clarified by the Constitutional Court. Until this period, there was a tradition that in the first session of the newly elected Seimas, a representative of the largest faction of the opposition was proposed to the vice-presidents of the Seimas. It is true that the statute does not detail this, it was just an established practice.

The remaining deputies of the Seimas will be elected in the second session of the new mandate to be held today and it is expected to approve the composition of the committees. Some of the work of the previous legislature will also be completed, several laws will be passed, the stages of presentation and consideration will be approved: Employment Laws, State Social Security, and consent will be given to spend a greater number of soldiers in international operations.