“Russian Alliance” liberates the political ring
“Russian Alliance” liberates the political ring
- Saturday October 29, 2022 08:00
Changes: a former member of the Klaipeda City Council, a representative of the Russian Alliance party, I. Rozova (first from left), was elected to the City Council and the Seimas more than once, but now she has withdrawn from politics; T. Lokhankina, once the permanent leader, who has been practicing for a long time has not been engaged; V. Karmanov preferred to check the post of the director of the municipal enterprise “Naujasis turgus”. Photo by Vytautas Lyaudanskis
After the announcement of the meetings of the party meetings, gathered that the lists of the meetings of its members were not submitted by the Klaipeda party “Russian Alliance”. Tamara Lokhankina, the leader of a moderate political force that originated in Klaipeda, confirmed that this is a conscious step, since the party allows a political circle after twenty years and there will be no participants in the upcoming elections in local government councils.
Doubts appeared in the spring
According to the law, twice a year – before October 1 and before March 1 – a political party must submit lists of its members to the Ministry of Justice.
The group must have at least 2 thousand people.
The party is threatened with liquidation if the number of its members is not established to the established minimum twice in a row and if the party fails to submit lists of members twice in a row within the deadline
In March of the party year, after the announcement of the statistical meetings of Lithuania, it was collected that the Russian Alliance party did not submit a list of its members – for the first time since its registration.
Party chairman T. Lokhankina at that time introduced to newspaper reporters that this happened because a possible congress of the group on the occasion of a pandemic is not expected, but it is revealed as soon as growth increases.
“It is important for us to hear the opinion of our party, what they think about our future political activities. We need to decide whether we will conduct our activities as a party or transform into associations, or maybe we will completely leave the political field, because everything has its time, everything has its place. In other words, other times – other songs. We must weigh everything thoroughly and make a collective decision regarding the future of the Russian Alliance.“”, T. Lokhankina told reporters this spring.
However, there were no previous elections.
At that time, according to T. Lokhankina, they had exactly 2 thousand members, as required by law.
Party mission completed?
The other day, journalists again turned to T. Lokhankina, asking why the lists of party members had not been submitted for the second time in a row. This time she replied, “We did it. The party has been operating for twenty years, we complete the work and leave, we are not conservatives who have come for a century. There was time, there were ideas, there were tasks, there were problems, we solved them. Although little was written publicly about our affairs, we really did a lot, and today we leave with a calm conscience. Those party members who have not lost interest in testing are likely to continue to work with other groups of the population.”
T. Lokhankina also said that she herself was not going to form a new party or any other political organization.
According to her, when the Russian Alliance was established, the society faced many questions: regarding the Russian school, Russian culture in the city, and a number of different aspects. These issues have been largely resolved.
“We really have become a regional party, but in fact we have become a party of one city. It has always been difficult for us to work. We tried to be both tolerant and positive, but for some reason in the media all the time appeared in the publication, as if our party was a threat to national security. On this occasion, we even turned to the Department of State Security and received confirmation from the head of the department that we are not enemies of the state,” T. Lokhankina shared her unpleasant feelings.
She assured that the “Russian Alliance” made extensive use of its activities not by chance, and with a constant statement that it was possible to significantly increase the number of prosperous Klaipeda residents.
“Look how well the Center of National Culture works. It was a project of our party, we cover it and did not interfere in the activities of the center, and now this organization successfully falls to the share of the communities of our city. Thanks to us, we managed to update Russian schools. If we talk about the social sphere, on the initiative of our party, the City Council in the past called for higher wages for Klaipeda workers. Who will now be the source of the interests of our voters? Well, this is already taking care of the voters,” summed up T. Lokhankina, emphasizing that the mission of infecting the attack has been completed.
Split and defeat
In the previous elections to the Seimas, held two years ago, the Russian Alliance did not participate, and in the elections to the councils of self-governments in 2019 it won less than 4 percent. votes, did not receive a single mandate.
Although in the Klaipeda City Council of the 2015-2019 convocation. there were four seats in this batch.
Such results of the 2019 elections were most likely due to the fact that the Russian-speaking residents of Klaipeda had split into political forces by that time, thereby scattering the votes of their voters.
Therefore, only two representatives of Russian-speaking voters got into the city council: a member of the public election committee “Titov and Justice” – Vyacheslav Titov and Yuri Shershnev.
As soon as he took up his powers, V. Titov lost his mandate as a member of the City Council for denigrating the name of the leader of the partisan movement, Adofas Ramanauskas. V. Titov’s place in the city council went to his political colleague Ella Andreeva, the largest in the list of parties. However, E. Andreeva soon became a defendant in the case of espionage against Lithuania in favor of Russia.
Her activities, as a politician in the City Council, were very modest, however, like her colleagues Yu. Shershneva.
According to the name of one Russian-speaking resident of Klaipeda, who did not want his name to be mentioned in the media, these two members of the Titov and Justice Committee during the entire term, which is nearing completion, naturally do not show the interests of their voters.
Name unknown
Klaipeda is at a loss before the uncertainty whether it will have its own candidates in the spring elections to the councils of self-government and mayors.
Politicians well known to the Russian-speaking patients of Klaipeda – Vyacheslav Karmanov, Oleg Marinich, T. Lokhankina – confirmed to journalists that they are not going to participate in the upcoming municipal elections.
With the former member of the Seimas Irina Rozova, who for a long time was the face of the Russian Alliance, it was not possible to communicate by phone these days, so it is not known whether she intends to fight for the mandate of a member of the City Council.
Other representatives of Russian-speaking political forces are also not used for calls – a member of the City Council E.Andreeva and a former member of the Klaipeda government council V.Titov. Their plans for political careers are also unknown.
Y. Shershnev, who works in the Klaipeda city council for the fourth electoral term, also does not yet report about the discovery of approaching the upcoming elections.
According to the politician, he thinks about it and if he decides with which political party he will run, he informs the public.
The chairman of the Klaipeda Tatar community, Ilfir Gibadullin, has now run for the community electoral committee in the last elections, but failed, and intends to keep his happiness once again. However, he also admits that he does not yet know with which political party he could take part in the elections, since there are no more Russian-speaking parties in Klaipeda.
“Perhaps, after the “Russian Alliance” is gone, the Russian-speaking Klaipeda residents this time will not acquire any new formations, but will be imbued with a common faction, which would be more reasonable. After all, the geopolitical background is now very complex and any political force whose name contains the word “Russian” or “Russian-speaking” leads to unambiguous judgments,” said a Klaipeda resident of non-Lithuanian origin, who did not want his name to appear on the pages of the newspaper.
The number has decreased
After the Russian Alliance failed to submit lists of members to the Ministry of Justice for the second time in a row, part of the party was resolved.
Currently, there are complex associations in the status of a liquidated party: these are the Lithuanian Party of Political Prisoners, Order and Justice, and the Union of National Unity. But the Russian Alliance party is not yet among them.
Since the restoration of independence in Lithuania, a total of 77 parties have been identified. To date, there are 24 parties, in which there are 100,675 copies.
Over the past five years, the number of persons involved in a particular political party has been guarded by more than 12 thousand people.
At present, three associations are numerous parties in Lithuania: the Social Democratic Party (14.5 thousand members), “Union of the Fatherland – Lithuanian Christian Democrats” (12.8 thousand) and the Labor Party (9.7 thousand members).
On October 7, the registration of participants in the political campaign began – elections to local government councils and presidents. Registration will last until December 12th.
On the same day, when before the election on the 83rd day of life, the submission of application documents by candidates will begin.
Then it will become clear whether the Klaipeda Russian-speaking commission is going to join the fight for a seat in the government council.
According to the Electoral Code, political parties and political committees that plan to put forward proposals for the post of mayor and are ready to submit lists that will run in the upcoming elections should participate as participants in the political campaign; as well as individuals who have become eligible to run, who have decided to participate in elections on their own and have chosen their candidacy for mayor.
Municipal and mayoral elections will take place on March 5, 2023.
Political party of Lithuania
The consignment Head of discovery as of 01.03.2022 Expected as of 01.10.2022
Party of Labor Andrius Mazuronis 10141 9754
Democratic Union “In the Name of Lithuania” Saulius Skvarnelis 3165 3371
The Path of Courage Party Jonas Varkala 2250 2212
Party “Together with Vytis” Vaclovas-Fortunatas Zutautas 2972 2890
Union of Christians Rimantas-Jonas Dagis 2484 2456
Freedom Party Aushrine Armonaite 3406 3334
Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party Gitana Nevulienė 2041 2024
Electoral action of Poles in Lithuania – Union of Christian Families Waldemar Tomaszewski 2097 2086
Lithuanian People’s Party Tauras Jakelaitis 2443 2422
Lithuanian Liberal Movement Victoria Cmilyte-Nielsen 6908 6869
Lithuanian Regional Party Jonas Pinkus 4212 5080
Social Democratic Party of Lithuania Vilija Blinkeviciute 14709 13512
Union of Peasants and Greens of Lithuania Ramunas Karbauskis 3854 3765
Lithuanian Green Party Eva Budraite 2270 2280
National Association Vytautas Rajvilas 2060 2032
Young Lithuania Party Stanislovas Bushkevičius 2001 2001
Freedom and Justice Party Remigijus Žemaititis 4569 4439
Lithuania – All Party Tomas Pacesas 4224 4176
Political party List of Lithuania Darius Kuolis 2001 2004
Political party Center of Trade Unions Kestutis Yuknis 2197 2197
Political party “Russian Alliance” Tamara Lokhankina lists not submitted lists not submitted
Union of People and Justice Petras Grazhulis 6970 6931
“Union of the Fatherland – Lithuanian Christian Democrats” Gabrielius Landsbergis 13072 12823
Party of Samogitians Stasis Gvajauskas 2040 2017
Lithuanian Party of Political Prisoners Zigmas Medinieckas is being liquidated is being liquidated
Union of National Unity Liquidator Ceslovas Banevičius liquidated liquidated
Party “Order and Justice” Almantas Piatkus is being liquidated is being liquidated