Kaunas liberals choose MP Simonas Kairys as mayoral candidate

Lithuania’s opposition Liberal Movement has selected MP and former culture minister Simonas Kairys as its candidate for Kaunas mayor, LRT reported. The decision was made at a general meeting of the party’s Kaunas branch on Wednesday.

The liberals considered four candidates. The others were businessman Mindaugas Gyvys, former Kaunas mayor and deputy mayor Rimantas Mikaitis, and branch chair Sigitas Šliažas. The meeting also ranked the party’s candidates for the Kaunas city council.

Kairys was elected to parliament in the Kaunas Centre-Žaliakalnis single-member constituency, where he received more than 54% of the vote and defeated then-Conservative leader Gabrielius Landsbergis.

In the previous municipal elections, the Liberal Movement received 3.52% of the vote in Kaunas and won no council seats. The party’s mayoral candidate, Nijolė Putrienė, received 2.89% and placed fifth, BNS reported.

Direct elections for mayors and municipal councillors are scheduled for March 7 next year. Incumbent mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis has announced he will seek another term. The Conservatives have chosen public figure and businessman Šarūnas Jasiukevičius, the Social Democrats have put forward MP Audrius Radvilavičius, and the Freedom Party and Lithuanian Green Party have announced Ieva Budraitė, leader of the latter party.