Election official denies ties and conflict of interest with Nemuno Aušra

Laura Matjošaitytė, a member of the Central Electoral Commission, has denied having a special relationship with the Nemuno Aušra party and said there has never been a conflict of interest, LRT reported.

“Since the day I took my oath, I have not provided consultations to political organisations and have no contracts with them. There was and is no conflict of interest at the Central Electoral Commission,” Matjošaitytė said in a written comment to BNS on Tuesday.

She said she had no special ties or obligations to any party or electoral committee. Matjošaitytė was responding to a report published by the Delfi news portal on Monday that she had advised Nemuno Aušra on membership fees and helped prepare the party’s response to the commission before returning to it.

Matjošaitytė became a commission member in May last year but did not publicly declare that work. She has also not disclosed whether she was paid by Nemuno Aušra, saying the information concerned her professional activities as a lawyer.

She said she declares her private interests in accordance with the law, but is not required to disclose information covered by professional secrecy. According to Matjošaitytė, the Law on the Bar and the Code of Ethics for Lawyers require her to protect information about contacting a lawyer, contract terms, the content of consultations and other details.

“I cannot waive this duty. To demand that a lawyer reveal a client is to demand that the lawyer break the law,” she said.

Robert Puchovičius, a deputy chairman of Nemuno Aušra, confirmed that he had communicated with Matjošaitytė but said he did not remember her providing services to the party or receiving payment for them.

Matjošaitytė chaired the Central Electoral Commission from 2017 to 2021. She returned as a commission member in May last year after her and lawyer Maksim Reznikov’s candidacies were submitted by Rimantas Mockus, who was then justice minister and had been delegated by Nemuno Aušra.

In May 2025, the newly formed commission considered alleged violations in Nemuno Aušra’s political campaign financing. Matjošaitytė voted that the party had committed violations in some decisions and abstained in others. She said there had been no grounds for her to recuse herself from matters concerning the party.

The Chief Official Ethics Commission said on Monday that it had received a report concerning a possible violation of legal provisions by Matjošaitytė and would assess whether to launch an investigation.