Conservatives ask watchdogs to investigate Matjošaitytė’s ties to Nemunas Dawn

Members of the Seimas Giedrė Balčytytė and Arvydas Anušauskas have asked Lithuania’s Supreme Electoral Commission and the Bar Council to investigate whether Laura Matjošaitytė provided previously undeclared legal services to the Nemunas Dawn party, LRT reported.

Matjošaitytė, a lawyer and member of the electoral commission, allegedly advised Nemunas Dawn before the 2024 parliamentary elections on membership-fee issues and helped the party prepare a response to the electoral commission.

According to the MPs’ submission, Matjošaitytė confirmed that she had advised the party but said there had been no contractual relationship and that she had not been paid. Balčytytė and Anušauskas said that the absence of payment did not in itself rule out a benefit being provided to the party.

They asked the electoral commission to determine whether the consultations were connected to the 2024 election campaign and, if so, whether the unpaid services should have been treated as a non-monetary donation and recorded in the campaign’s financing accounts.

The MPs also questioned Matjošaitytė’s conduct after she became an electoral commission member. They said she had taken part in discussions and decisions concerning Nemunas Dawn’s campaign financing, and asked whether her previous professional relationship with the party should have been disclosed and whether her participation complied with the Electoral Code.

In a separate letter, the MPs asked the Bar Council to assess possible violations of the Electoral Code and the Code of Professional Ethics concerning Matjošaitytė’s consultations, professional confidentiality and failure to recuse herself from issues related to Nemunas Dawn.

The submission says Matjošaitytė took part in several electoral commission meetings concerning the party’s finances. The MPs said she asked questions during a discussion of the party’s financial reports on March 26, 2026, voted on July 30 to postpone a decision, and attended an August 20 meeting at which the commission found that Nemunas Dawn had received at least 4,300 euros in membership fees through third parties.

The Seimas members said the minutes of those meetings contained no record of Matjošaitytė’s recusal.

They also asked the Bar Council to assess her arguments concerning professional confidentiality. The MPs noted that Nemunas Dawn leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis had publicly confirmed that the consultations took place and that no payment was made.

Balčytytė and Anušauskas asked the Bar Council to determine whether the circumstances warranted an investigation into a possible breach by Matjošaitytė and whether the matter should be referred to the Court of Honour for Lawyers for clarification of the relevant ethics provisions.

Earlier, the electoral commission found that Nemunas Dawn and Žemaitaitis had seriously violated the law by accepting money from illegal sources during the 2024 parliamentary and presidential election campaigns. The commission said the party had financed its 2024 parliamentary election campaign through donations from legal entities and through third parties.

The commission also found that the party had violated the law by accepting and using 4,300 euros in membership fees paid through third parties, part of which came from the funds of a legal entity.