All 18 LLRA-KŠS councillors skip Vilnius district meeting

All 18 members of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania–Christian Families Alliance (LLRA-KŠS) faction missed a meeting of the Vilnius District Municipality Council on Friday, preventing it from considering its scheduled business, LRT reported.

The agenda included another discussion of renaming streets named after Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz and transferring premises to the Tadeusz Kosciuszko company of the Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union.

Marija Rekst, a former Vilnius district mayor and LLRA-KŠS councillor, said the faction had jointly decided to stay away as a form of protest. She said the meeting was scheduled at an inconvenient time, although it had traditionally been held on the last Friday of the month. Rekst said the faction chair had sent a letter explaining the reasons and referred further questions to him.

LRT was unable to reach faction chair Waldemar Urban before publication. Mayor Robert Duchnevičius said he had received no information that the faction planned to miss the meeting and had not received a letter.

Duchnevičius said he did not know why the councillors were absent. He suggested the Gulbinowicz street-renaming issue or the meeting date might have played a part, but said those were only possibilities. He added that council meeting dates could not be set to suit every faction.

Danielius Ilkevičius, a council member from the Freedom Party who chairs the council’s Ethics Commission, said he would initiate an examination of the councillors’ absence. He said they had the right to oppose renaming the streets but should state their position by voting. Ilkevičius described the boycott as an attempt to avoid responsibility for the vote.

Tags: Lithuania, Vilnius district, local politics