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The CEC made that decision on Saturday after nearly three hours of deliberation.
The CEC decided that the publication “All the Good, Valdemara”, initiated and published by A.Tapinas, should be considered as a negative political advertisement of the Polish electoral campaign of Lithuania: the Union of Christian Families.
In this publication, people are urged to participate more actively in the elections so that the LLRA-KŠS does not enter the Seimas. If they cannot choose a suitable candidate, the voters are offered to spoil the ballot. The publication also introduces the candidates of this party to the Seimas, providing negative information about them, and publishes critical statements from Lithuanian Poles about the LLRA-KŠS.
The CEC staff who investigated suggested that the publication was not paid for with the political campaign account, but the majority of the members of the Electoral Commission decided that there could be no violation, because neither A. Tapinas nor the public institution “Laisvės TV “that he established had a political campaign. Participants.
Only politicians and parties who wish to run for the Seimas are registered as participants in a political campaign.
At the same time, the CEC decided to forward the compiled investigative material to the Public Information Ethics Commission to assess whether Laisvės TV and Andrius Tapinas did not violate the code of ethics.
In addition, it was decided to request the Seimas to consider the need to regulate the participation of third parties in the political campaign by providing sources of financing, control of declaration and marking, and a possible spending limit.
Lina Petronienė, head of the CEC’s Political Party and Political Campaign Financing Control Division, who conducted an investigation into the actions initiated by A. Tapinas, said the presenter both on Laisvės TV and in a specially published publication encouraged people to actively participate in elections instead of damaging the ballots. The funds raised and spent by him are far from the amount that determines the seriousness of the offense.
Therefore, he stated that despite this campaign, no significant increase in voter turnout was observed during these Seimas elections, and the number of invalid ballots decreased.
Photo by Irmantas Gelūnas / 15 min photo / Polish Lithuanian Election Campaign – Union of Christian Families
After analyzing the absolute number of votes in various elections, L. Petronienė stated that the decrease in LLRA-KŠS votes corresponds to general trends.
A. Tapinas, for his part, emphasized on Saturday that he had not participated in the Seimas elections, so that neither he nor Laisvės TV could be subject to the requirements established for participants in the political campaign. He claimed that such action expressed his civic position.
The presenter pointed out that the CEC’s own study pointed out that A. Tapinas and Laisvės TV had not been found in favor of any other participant in the political campaign, so the information disseminated by him could not be recognized as negative political publicity .
“Very well, the Valdemara campaign was designed to mobilize people to go to the polls more frequently so that they can understand more clearly why they are voting. And the” Goodbye Voldemort “campaign was intended to show the public that the ruler of darkness may not even be dead, as Rowling (the creator of Harry Potter – BNS) says in the documentary, and that the name should be treated with caution and better not mentioned, explained A. Tapinas.
Photo by Luke April / 15 minutes / Valdemaras Tomaševskis
Valdemaras Tomaševskis, president of the LLRA-KŠS, pointed out that the action of A.Tapinas had a decisive influence on the electoral results. According to him, the rapes were committed on a large scale, the publication “What better, Valdemarai” was published in 300 thousand. circulation of copies.
He compared the previous situation to a sports match, where 11 players play on the field and suddenly they run away and start playing the twelfth.
Rita Tamašunienė, LLRA-KŠS member, Minister of the Interior, also emphasized the scale of the campaign: the large circulation of the publication, the viewing of Laisvės TV, and the large territory where the specially published discussion publication was distributed.
According to R. Tamšunienė, if the CEC does not make a strict decision in this case, a precedent will be set for the next elections.
“We left the country to act in accordance with the legislation in force during the next elections, we left the country to influence the electoral results,” he said.
The LLRA-KŠS, which did not cross the electoral barrier, filed a complaint that the Seimas Elections Law had been seriously violated due to Laisvės’ television campaign against the party leader and the party.
A.Tapinas, founder of Laisvės TV, announced the campaign “Greetings, Voldemortai” on the social network Facebook before the elections to the Seimas, urging active participation in the elections to reduce the percentage of LLRA-KŠS votes, said an account to which the campaign could support by transferring money.
It was announced at the exhibition that a total of 15 thousand. 300 thousand euros. The press works of the publication “Everything okay, Valdemarai?” They cost 5,000. 1.2 thousand euros, fuel and transportation costs for electoral observers. euros.
LLRA-KŠS raised 4.82% during the Seimas elections. votes and not exceeding 5%. the cartel did not enter the Seimas in the multi-member constituency. During the first round, two LLRA-KŠS candidates were elected to the Seimas in one-member electoral districts. Two more candidates from this party went to the second round.
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