Vilnius district mayor says faction split seeks to weaken his office

Vilnius District Mayor Robertas Duchnevičius says the creation of a new opposition faction by members of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania–Christian Families Alliance (LLRA-KŠS) is intended to weaken the mayor’s office, LRT reported.

“With elections approaching, I also see an attempt to weaken the mayor’s institution by shifting responsibility for decisions stalled in the council onto the mayor,” Duchnevičius wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

At a council meeting on Friday, LLRA-KŠS members split into two factions. One, named “STOP KORUPCIJAI” (Stop Corruption), declared itself to be in opposition. The new faction said the move was a protest against what it described as increasingly frequent corrupt decisions in the municipality and its companies.

Duchnevičius said the split took advantage of a legal loophole that allows members of the same political force to belong to both the governing majority and the opposition. He questioned how members of one party could vote both for and against the same decisions, saying they had previously followed the instructions of the party’s leader.

The mayor also suggested the split could give the party more political posts, including the chair of the council’s Control Committee, the heads of its Anti-Corruption and Ethics commissions, and the opposition leader’s position. He criticised LLRA-KŠS members’ previous work on the council, accusing them of boycotting meetings, removing issues important to residents from agendas and delaying decisions. He said he remained ready to work with any councillors seeking constructive solutions to the district’s problems.

Renata Sobieska leads the “STOP KORUPCIJAI” faction, with Robertas Rackiewiczius as deputy. The faction has eight members. The other LLRA-KŠS faction, led by Waldemaras Urbanas, has nine members. The party said the two factions had signed an agreement to cooperate closely and hold joint meetings.

The Vilnius district council has 31 members. Before Friday’s split, the LLRA-KŠS faction had 18. The council also includes seven Social Democrats and six members of the centre-right coalition, comprising the Freedom Party, the Liberal Movement and the Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats.