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On Thursday, the president of the Lithuanian Union of Peasants and Greens (LVŽS) R. Karbauskis announced that he was resigning his term as a member of the Seimas, protesting against the actions of the new government in the allocation of positions in parliament.
According to the peasants, he and the largest opposition faction made such a decision “without approving and protesting against the actions of the Seimas leadership and the majority of Seimas, which eliminate the largest opposition faction from the Seimas leadership.”
There were deliberations in the public sphere that R. Karbauskis had planned such a scenario even before the elections. The peasant leader did not participate in the elections in the single-member constituency, so it is believed that after LVŽS enters the opposition and R. Karbauskis resigns, the first peasant left behind the list of scripts will enter the Seimas and will not have to organize new single-member elections.
However, Vytautas Dumbliauskas, associate professor and political scientist at Mykolas Romeris University (MRU), believes that R. Karbauskis did not compete in the single-member race not because of a brilliantly conceived plan, but because he is one of the nastiest politicians in the country.
“It just came to our notice then. Still, he’s a fool, you’ve seen what his rating is. <...> In 2016, he arrived on a white horse, he carried hope. Now he has no hope, “said V. Dumbliauskas.
The political scientist believes that R. Karbauskis may have decided that he simply would not be interested in working in the opposition.
“Perhaps he saw that there was no point wasting time. You don’t have to work in opposition, you need power, you need to be the center of attention. <...> Think that you would grow up in the family of a rich dad, the president of a collective farm, money like hay that he has for life. You need something more, business is not enough, “said MRU associate professor.
However, in the opinion of V. Dumbliauskas, R. Karbauskis will remain at Seimas.
“It just came to our knowledge then. I think he will stab Lithuania again on Tuesday. He is like Donald Trump, he lies, he speaks, but no,” considered the interlocutor.
Liberal considers children
Here is a card that you can play once. Who is Mr. Karbauskis in politics without a mandate? Nothing. After all, we remember the stories during the presidential election, when they and Skvernelis explained a lot about those resignations, ”Bernaras Ivanovas, associate professor and political scientist at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU), told the news portal tv3.lt.
R. Karbauskis’s move reminded the interlocutor of a moment of greatness, when “a person is convinced that he is so absolutely irreplaceable, such a great authority, the savior and guardian of the nation.”
“He thinks that if he leaves, everything will collapse. And when things were not going in the right direction as he expected, he had to wag his tail, say he didn’t understand that much, take it out of context,” analyzed B. Ivanov.
According to the political scientist, with such statements, the peasant leader is trying to stop the new majority in the Seimas.
“Karbauskis sees this new majority, especially the liberals, as children, as less experienced and understood. Only he forgets that these children have a teacher, a conservative. <...> It’s all a PR game, an attempt to manipulate, an attempt to win something. We see that it makes a lot of sense, because it will give some of those benefits by receiving publications, “Ivanov said.
Do you remember Kadyrov?
Seimas spokeswoman Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen mentioned that she will try to negotiate with the peasants and it is possible that the largest opposition faction will get what she wanted: the post of vice president of Seimas.
However, R. Karbauskis himself assured that he would not resign from the mandate of a member of the Seimas if the governing authorities asked him to stay. For Ivanov, such behavior of the peasant leader reminded him of the methods of activity of the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
“Kadyrov loves public apologies. People who are ‘offended’ by him Facebook, TV shows apologize. Karbauskis probably liked Kadyrov’s tactics and wants him to publicly apologize.
To put it mildly, this is a time of a very strange Asian political culture. Usually western politicians don’t do this, it is not typical of western political culture. This is typical of Asian political culture, which certainly fascinates our respected Karbauskis, because I cannot explain it any other way, ”Ivanov said.
According to the political scientist, it would be useful for the rulers if R. Karbauskis resigned from his mandate.
“It just came to our knowledge then. If he leaves, you must open the door wide and ask him to do so as soon as possible. This is not going to happen because he is a guest who does not leave in any way, although he says goodbye many times . <...> Mr. Karbauskis will remain at Seimas and we will hear his interesting remarks many times, “said B. Ivanov.
The departure of Karbauskis would mean the collapse of the peasants
Although both political scientists interviewed by the tv3.lt news portal are convinced that R. Karbauskis will remain in the Seimas in the event of the resignation of the peasant leader, experts agree that this would be the beginning of the end of the peasants.
According to V. Dumbliauskas, part of the peasants would go to the rulers, part to the Social Democrats. According to the political scientist, Saulius Skvernelis could not assume the leadership position left by R. Karbauskis.
“You have to work, dig, read, look for trailers everywhere. Skvernel’s political career was so easy. I don’t think Skvernelis works in such a black opposition position,” said V. Dumbliauskas.
According to him, in such a case, the peasants could be saved if Rima Baškienė took the initiative, who, in the opinion of V. Dumbliauskas, would elevate the political culture of the LVŽS to a higher level.
“But Karbauskis will not resign from the party, he will continue to be the leader. Otherwise he would become a landowner, an uninteresting landowner,” said V. Dumbliauskas.
Ivanov agrees with the idea that after the departure of R. Karbauskis, most of the peasants would flee.
“There is no peasant party without R. Karbauskis. It is a one-leader party that has multiple frontmenus. One bought, Skvernelis, the other adult, Veryga. Also, there is nothing out there.
The departure of Karbauskis would be a great disadvantage for the group, then we would have a slow exit of members, something would leak to the workers, something to the Social Democrats, then look, and the 7-member faction leaves. Understand what it could be, it won’t work, “Ivanov said.
On Thursday evening, the Central Election Commission (CEC) received a request from Ramūnas Karbauskis, the leader of the Lithuanian Union of Peasants and Greens (LVŽS), to terminate the term of its Seimas member.
“The commission has received a statement from Mr Ramūnas Karbauskis regarding the resignation of a Seimas member from the mandate and we will address this issue at the next commission meeting scheduled for Tuesday,” Laura Matjošaitytė, head of the CEC, told BNS.
According to her, R. Karbauskis will have to read the statement during the commission meeting, then his mandate would be revoked by decision of the CEC.
“If there is a vacancy, we would give the mandate to the next candidate in the queue, the first one behind the line, it would be Asta Kubilienė,” said L. Matjošaitytė.
The peasant leader who had the largest ruling faction during the last term was the largest of the faction and the chairman of the Seimas Culture Committee.
R. Karbauskis was a deputy to Parliament during the Seimas 1996-2000, 2000-2004 and 2016-2020 legislatures.
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