Lithuanian Creators’ Association nominates candidates for LRT council

The Lithuanian Creators’ Association has proposed Daiva Daugirdienė, Jonas Staselis, and Alvydas Šlepikas as its nominees for the Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) council, with a vote on the delegate expected next week, the association’s president confirmed.

According to Jonas Staselis, who currently serves as the association’s delegate on the LRT council, the governing board will meet next Monday to elect its representative. The nominated candidates are Daiva Daugirdienė, chair of the Lithuanian Literary Translators’ Association, Staselis himself, and poet and prose writer Alvydas Šlepikas.

Staselis declined to specify which members or organisations had proposed the individual candidates, citing political pressure surrounding the selection process. “Since this issue is being politicised and various kinds of political and other pressure are being applied, I do not wish to comment at this time,” he told the Baltic News Service (BNS).

The LRT council consists of 12 members. Four are appointed by the president and four by the Seimas (two from the ruling majority and two from the opposition), while the remaining four are delegated by the Lithuanian Council of Science, the Lithuanian Creators’ Association, the Lithuanian Bishops’ Conference, and the Lithuanian Education Council.

The terms of the current delegates from the Council of Science (Darijus Beinoravičius), the Bishops’ Conference (Irena Vaišvilaitė), and the Education Council (Eugenijus Valatka) will also expire on 19 May, alongside Staselis’s own mandate.

Under LRT’s governing law, council members must be Lithuanian citizens of impeccable reputation holding a master’s degree and at least five years of professional experience. Each term lasts six years.