Lithuania’s electoral commission to consider inquiry into Matjošaitytė’s party work

Lithuania’s Central Electoral Commission will decide on Thursday whether to launch an inquiry into services provided in 2024 by its member Laura Matjošaitytė to the Nemunas Aušra party, LRT reports.

The commission said this week that metadata showed Matjošaitytė had prepared the party’s response to questions about membership fees two years ago. Commission chair Lina Petronienė said the body could not investigate possible violations by its own member, but could examine the party and the legality of its financing.

Complaints concerning Matjošaitytė have been received by the Central Electoral Commission, the Lithuanian Bar Association and the Chief Official Ethics Commission. The latter decided last week to collect additional information before deciding whether to open an inquiry.

Meanwhile, the opposition Homeland Union Lithuanian Christian Democrats initiated a motion to dismiss Matjošaitytė from the commission. The required signatures were collected to request that the proposal be added to the parliamentary agenda. The document was signed by lawmakers from the conservative, liberal and For Lithuania’s Future Democratic Union factions.

Parliament Speaker Juozas Olekas said he was waiting for Matjošaitytė to announce whether she would resign.

The issue arose after the Delfi news portal reported that Matjošaitytė may have advised Nemunas Aušra before the 2024 parliamentary elections and helped prepare the party’s response to the Central Electoral Commission. Party leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis said the party had consulted Matjošaitytė on various issues but had not paid her. Matjošaitytė likewise said she had not received a single euro for the consultations.

The commission said it had found no expenditure for Matjošaitytė’s legal services in the party’s financial documents.

Delfi also reported that in September 2024, more than a month before the parliamentary elections, Matjošaitytė sent Nemunas Aušra deputy leader Robertas Puchovičius a draft response to the commission that she had prepared. In the email, she asked Puchovičius to transfer the text into a Word document he had created so that her metadata would not remain. Puchovičius told Delfi he did not remember such an email.

Matjošaitytė chaired the Central Electoral Commission from 2017 to 2021. She returned as a commission member last year following a parliamentary decision, after her candidacy was put forward by then Justice Minister Rimantas Mockus.