The president is still looking for his place

Dr. Andrius Šuminas, associate professor at the Faculty of Communication of Vilnius University, said that looking back at the presidential term, it can be said that G. Nausėda is still looking for her place.

“The president is looking for his place in political life, both in domestic and foreign politics. I would see it as an attempt to please the widest possible public. It’s an attempt to engage in clear positions, to change positions for a while. The desire to be popular and the desire to please a slightly larger part of the society “, the portal said lrytas.lt said Shumin.

Ramūnas Vilpišauskas, a professor at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University, also noticed this tendency. According to him, this is the weakest job of the president, which has a negative impact on other areas as well.

“The content of the President’s communication is contradictory. This is one of the weakest jobs for this president, as his position seems to depend heavily on a variety of external reactions. First of all, from the domestic policy and when it intersects with its continuity, then it becomes a serious problem from the point of view of the national interests of the whole state, ”said R. Vilpišauskas.

Shumin said that both the positive and negative sides of the president’s communication could be seen.

“From the possibility of the president to be re-elected for a second term, it could be said that this is a positive thing. “From the perspective of domestic politics and political leadership, it can be said that it is negative, because it seems that in some cases the president himself does not have a strong opinion and therefore it is difficult to expect some leadership from the president and the presidency,” said the specialist.

G.Nausė plays the role of a critic

R. Vilpišauskas said that in trying to please all groups of society, the president is pursuing popularity. Disagreements with the Government and the ruling majority of the Seimas can also be considered a reason for this.

“Another possible reason is the desire to keep our distance from the Government and the policies pursued by the Seimas rulers now and to look for weaknesses in this policy, rather than cooperating. Especially when it comes to solving common problems that are important for the whole of Lithuania, such as pandemic management or some other similar tasks. Their decisions are needed in cooperation between the President, the Government and the Seimas, and we do not see that, “said Vilpišauskas.

The political scientist said that according to the Constitution, the institution of the President in Lithuania plays a dual role. As part of the executive power, the President, together with the Government, pursues foreign policy, proposes amendments to the officials of the institutions, and signs or returns laws to the Seimas for consideration. This is a collaborative role.

On the other hand, the president may also occupy a certain fuse, a counterweight to accept. He can be a critical assessor with voter powers because he is elected directly. The specialist said that in the past half of the presidential term, there is a clear focus on the second role.

“Of these two roles, I would say we see a very clear focus on the second, the criticism of the ruling majority and the government.

Very little attention is paid to the cooperating role, although from what Gitanas Nausėda said during the election debate, it could be expected that the opposite will be the case, ”said R. Vilpišauskas.

The welfare state lives only in languages

The political scientist stated that the above-mentioned cooperating role of the president is important for effectively solving the country’s emerging problems, which is one of G. Nausėda’s election goals – the establishment of one state in Lithuania. However, none of the strong changes towards a welfare state have been observed.

“The welfare state is visible in the speeches of the President and in the bills submitted by him, but without cooperation with the Seimas and the majority, it gives these ideas to one president for implementation.

Here, he puts his foot down or it shows his attitude towards his proposed welfare vision of the state simply as a rhetorical tool, which is designed to change life in Lithuania not so much, the votes of the electorate, ”R. Vilpišauskas discussed.

Doc. dr. Shumin also noted that this goal is difficult to measure during the election campaign, so it is difficult to assess whether the president’s promises are being continued or not.

“The welfare state is a sham statement that everyone can understand as they wish. It is a very vague and vaguely defined, capacious statement for everyone’s imagination. I don’t know if there’s any very significant breakthrough in prosperity that has happened in those two and a half years.

Clearly, we cannot expect any drastic changes to take place in such a short time. The problem, however, is that we cannot measure that level of well-being in any way and assess whether the president has succeeded in fulfilling his promise or whether the goal has been achieved, ”said the communications specialist.

Change in the presidential team more than usual

In addition to contradictory statements, half of the last term of President G. Nausėda is characterized by a difficult change of the team. Just a few days ago, Raminta Stanaitytė-Česnulienė, the head of the Communication Group and the Chief Adviser to the President, also announced her resignation. Although the change of advisers is in itself a normal phenomenon, R. Vilpišauskas said that it is very large during this term.

“It simply came to our notice then. Some who want more results are disappointed because it is difficult to achieve cooperation with the Seimas and the Government, which can also demotivate people and lead them to leave the presidential team.

In general, this change is greater than before. The decisions of the president himself, which seem to be insufficiently substantiated, also belong to it, ”the political scientist discussed.

Shumin argued that the abundance of crises could also lead to team change, but it is still unclear whether these are decisions by the president or team members.

“The changes are really taking care of each other and they first of all probably mean that the president is dissatisfied with the work of the people and his team. some are suitable appointments, some crises are attributed to precisely those people, and thus people are being sought who can properly manage and carry out the president’s communications.

The question, of course, may be whether the problem is with those people or with the president himself, ”the specialist said.

Preparations are already under way for the next presidential election

According to recent public opinion polls and ratings, it looks like the president wants to be seen in his second term. An associate professor at the VU Faculty of Communication noted that the current statements are also evident in Gitana Nausėda’s preparations for the next presidential election in 2024.

“That attempt to please as much of the public as possible essentially echoed his strategy for the first elections in 2019, when the aim was to catch it all, ie to attract all, all groups in society. We really see that now.

The chances are probably good, too, because as president, he has the opportunity to shape the agenda, shape the campaign, get attention, and the like. This is a huge advantage compared to other potential candidates, ”said A. Šuminas.

Although, according to R. Vilpišauskas, it is too early to talk about the next presidential election, it is certain that G. Nausėda could not decide for a second term.

“It simply came to our notice then. It is possible to speculate that perhaps more conservative people, not residents of big cities, not Vilnius residents, ”said the political scientist about the possible electorate.