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In 2016, Kaunas voters in all but one of the single-member constituencies of the Seimas voted in favor of the candidates of the Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union, including representatives of the Kaunas United, which ruled Kaunas. This year, the results of the Seimas elections were different. The ELTA news agency spoke to the mayor of the Kaunas municipality, Visvaldas Matijošaitis.
– This year, he has already delegated 4 members of “United Kaunas” to stand for the Seimas elections together with the Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union. You put a lot of effort into political publicity, judging by the calls from the press and the photos of you and the party’s candidates, which decorated the electoral stands that are seen in the public spaces of the city, where Kaunas offered to support the announcements, including current Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis. Unfortunately … Did you think for a moment on the eve of the elections that the result could be the opposite, and what happened was an unpleasant surprise for you?
– I did not predict the election results beforehand, so when I found out, I was not surprised. Naturally, both myself and my team support the delegated representatives of our public organization Vieningas Kaunas, so of course it is a bit sad that they do not represent the people of Kaunas in the Seimas.
However, it was not the city government, but the Seimas elections, and the people chose the parties they wanted to see in the national government. It is your choice that we must respect. I congratulate the winners of the Seimas elections and wish that they justify the confidence expressed by the nation.
– At a press conference on Monday morning, Mr. Aurelijus Veryga expressed the view that a trend emerged during the elections: the choice of voters to vote for the leadership, but no longer for specific individuals. At least in Kaunas, this is obvious, where 1 representative of the Freedom Party and 6 representatives of the National Union won against “peasants” in 7 electoral districts. So, it is already possible to confirm that the “conservatives are” recovering Kaunas “, are these conclusions too early, in your opinion?
– State policy is not city policy, and Kaunas is not a toy to be subject to some kind of division. It is true that we may not even see the majority of the conservatives elected in Kaunas here. But for me it is more important who will become Prime Minister and what will be the Prime Minister’s attitude towards Kaunas.
State policy is not city policy, and Kaunas is not a toy to be the subject of some kind of division.
Kaunas has done a great job implementing projects that are important not only for the city, but also for the whole of Lithuania, therefore my only wish is that the new rulers coming to the Seimas and the Government understand and appreciate all this. You cannot stop half-doing what is important to the people of the entire country.
– The winners of the Seimas elections do not hide their intention to fundamentally revise the draft budget 2021. Is there no danger of stalling in the financing of the construction of large objects on Nemunas Island and other places in the city that started in Kaunas? last month or a little earlier?
– It will be as it will be. We’ll see. However, the great work in terms of large urban projects has already been done, bids have been won, projects have been prepared and construction has started, serious work has been done. Therefore, it would not be very practical to scratch everything and leave a large construction site in the city. Usually this does not happen.
– In the Kaunas City Council, which you chair, the Conservatives are a minority. It is an opposition group whose suggestions and ideas are often left unchecked. Perhaps something will change in the work of the Council now: the views of the opposition will be listened to more carefully, perhaps the meetings will be longer so that all members of the Council have enough time to present their thoughts, and this can be seen, on the Internet, which does not broadcast committee meetings, and do Kaunas residents listen to it?
– When we work on the council, we do not divide people based on their political opinions. We evaluate ideas and suggestions according to their validity, reality and meaning. We will continue to do so.
– In the Volunteer District, which is assigned part of the Kaunas district in addition to the Kaunas city territories, the representative of the Freedom Party, whose last name matches his, has won the mandate of a member of the Seimas . If he’s not even your most distant relative, perhaps, as you might guess, it was his popularity that added some of the voters’ votes.
– Marium Matijošaitis is not related. I do not know him, so it would be difficult for me to name the reason for the candidate’s success.
However, if the surname of Matijošaitis really contributed to the victory of this candidate, the residents of Kaunas associate it with good expectations. Hopefully the new Seimas member will justify them.
Are you satisfied with the results of the Seimas elections?
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