Vilnius district council faces committee changes after party split

Vilnius District Council will consider changes to the membership of several committees and commissions on Friday, after nine members split from the ruling Polish Electoral Action–Union of Christian Families (LLRA-KŠS) faction in October, LRT reported.

The breakaway group, which calls itself the opposition faction Stop Corruption, has proposed adding its representatives to the Control Committee, Anti-Corruption Commission and Ethics Commission. Its proposals would increase the Control Committee from six members to eight and the Anti-Corruption Commission from seven to ten.

The proposed Control Committee members are Waldemar Urban and Iwona Kazakiewicz. Tadeusz Andrzejewski, Iwona Kazakiewicz and Renata Sobieska would join the Anti-Corruption Commission. The group has also proposed changing the Ethics Commission, increasing its membership from seven to ten and replacing some current members. The proposed members include Kristina Boroško, Miroslav Klim, Honorata Romanovska, Zbigniew Sinkiewicz, Stanislaw Zajankowski and Zigmont Zdanowicz.

Stop Corruption has not proposed chair candidates for the Anti-Corruption or Ethics commissions. It is considering nominating its faction leader, Sobieska, to head the Control Committee.

Robert Rackiewicz, deputy head of Stop Corruption, accused the opposition Centre-Right Coalition faction of failing to act on issues including the district bus company. The coalition includes representatives of the Conservatives, Liberals and Freedom Party.

Centre-Right Coalition leader Gediminas Kazėnas described the new faction as an attempt by the ruling majority to “play democracy” by artificially splitting LLRA-KŠS and registering some of its members as opposition. He accused LLRA-KŠS of presiding over corruption and nepotism on an unprecedented scale in the district, and ruled out cooperation with Stop Corruption. Kazėnas said he could not say whether his faction would take part in the vote, adding that the outcome was clear regardless.

Social Democrat faction leader Martynas Motuzas said Stop Corruption was seeking to take over the opposition’s role ahead of next year’s municipal elections. He said Social Democrat councillors might abstain, arguing that the proposed changes violated democratic norms in local government.

The 31-member council has nine LLRA-KŠS members, nine Stop Corruption members, seven Social Democrats and six members of the Centre-Right Coalition, which brings together the Freedom Party, the Liberal Movement and the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats.

Tensions have also emerged over proposals to rename streets bearing the name of Polish cleric Henrikas Gulbinowicz, who was punished for sexually abusing minors. LLRA-KŠS representatives have blocked those proposals.