Linas Jegelevičius
It appears that in 1988, with Sąjūdis, Lithuania’s national movement picking thousands of supporters, the current Lithuanian President, Gitanas Nausėda, handed his request to join the Communist Party.
Instead of blushing now, the head-of-state is defiant, certainly not remorseful, and talks about “a youthful indiscretion”. Meanwhile, his political opponents and swaths of the public alike are set to delve deeper into the president’s past. All agree that Nausėda’s reputation has seen a dent, but the opinions on its depth vary.
The news about the membership was first broken out by Dovydas Pancerovas, a journalist working for the Laisvės TV channel. The archival documents he published on Facebook show that
Nausėda applied to join the party on the 20th of May, 1988, and was issued a party ticket on the 27th of June.
“Although Nausėda admits he made a mistake by joining the party, he says the membership was a small thing. However, little things are revealed, not hidden for a long time. If he had openly recognized the membership after Lithuania regained its independence, it would have been just a small blemish on his biography. By deliberately and consistently hiding his membership, Nausėda misled his voters, partly by presenting himself as something he was not,” Kęstutis Girnius, a prominent Lithuanian political analyst of American descent, told BNN.
In his words, it remains unknown how many of his constituents feel cheated, and how many would not have voted for him knowing about his membership.
However, Lauras Bielinis, a professor at Vytautas Magnus University, believes that there is too “much fuss” about the revelation.
“We are talking about things that happened a long time ago. And memberships in the party (the Communist Party – L. J.) were viewed suspiciously 30 years ago, not now. Understandably, the President’s opponents are trying to use the news for their purposes, but I do not think the revelation will damage the President. For the majority, it will not be the defining moment of his presidency,” Bielinis told BNN.
With the scandal in full swing, the presidential office confirmed that Nausėda joined the party at the time, but insisted he was no longer involved in its activities after the beginning of the national revival movement, Sąjūdis, which was established in June of 1988.
When Nausėda vied for the presidential seat in 2019,
he skipped the question in the Central Electoral Commission’s questionnaire on whether he belonged or had belonged to a political party
or political organisation. Now, he claims the question was in the optional part of the questionnaire.
Calling the membership “a youthful indiscretion”, Nausėda emphasised that, in his life, he has devoted himself to the life of a scholar economist and “strived” to rub out the youthful indiscretion later in life – with his impeccable professional activity and service to the state.
“There can be no question of any vulnerability here because what happened 35 years ago has not had any impact on my life,” the president told journalists in the southern city of Alytus following the disclosure.
“Sadly, the Soviet era is still with us and is permeating us, its legacy is still felt, albeit weakly, and its descendants are still among us. Of the five presidents of Lithuania, only Valdas Adamkus, who did not live in Lithuania, was not a member of the Communist Party,” says Girnius.
“It should have been understood that joining the Communist Party is not the same as joining some Rotary or golf club in the West to meet influential businessmen, potential partners, and supporters. Becoming a communist partly meant coming to terms with the Lithuanian occupation. It was not possible to foresee the sudden and fatal collapse of the party after a few years, so people still joined it. In one sense, it was a rational move that could improve career prospects. On the other hand, it meant identification with the organisation,” the analyst underscored.
Ex-Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė, who served from 2009 through 2019, was also a member of the Communist Party
since 1979 and joined the Lithuanian Communist Party in 1989 after it split off under the leadership of Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas. She left the party in June 1990. Grybauskaitė declared her Communist Party membership in the CEC questionnaires in 2009 and 2014, both times she ran for president. However, in Lithuania, multiple plot theories abound, questioning the timelines of her affiliation with the Communist Party.
Lithuania’s top politicians were reluctant to criticise the president. For example, Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen said that she thinks that the most problematic part of this situation is the failure to disclose it before the elections.
“This is an example of the need for politicians to disclose important facts about themselves, even in those cases where it is not formally necessary,” she said.
Meanwhile, Lithuania’s ruling Homeland Union (HU-LCD) has exhorted Nausėda not to look at any conspiracy and not say it is part of his “hunting”. The embattled head-of-state has hinted said the disclosure was allegedly targeting his position ahead of the presidential elections next year.
But Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, leader of the HU-LCD, shot back, saying he’s not aware of “who is hunting the president”. In his words, the HU-LCD has not yet started discussions on the presidential elections and candidates. However, Landsbergis mentioned that the current Defence minister, Arvydas Anušauskas, who is enjoying high support, could be the party’s candidate.
In the latest development, Andrius Tapinas, a journalist and leader of Laisvės TV, raised questions on his Facebook page about Nausėda’s internship trip to Germany, asking him to say if he had not been approached by KGB ahead of the trip. Nausėda’s communication staff
issued a swift denial, saying that Nausėda had not communicated with KGB officials
about his internship in Germany or any other issues.
“It’s unlikely that his opponents won’t try to exploit his stumble. If such a fact were revealed about any conservative minister, Nausėda might even demand that he resign. There is no reason to disagree with his claim that his undisclosed membership did not make him vulnerable in his activities, although I am surprised that no one has previously brought up his membership, which he should have known about, if not his friends, then at least those who wrote him referrals. It appears that there will be no more pressure to force him to resign,” Girnius says.
“Obviously, with the presidential race nearing, the membership will be reminded multiple times, but, again, we have the year 2023, so, for the most, not the membership but the activities (of Nausėda – L.J.) will matter most,” L. Bielinis emphasised to BNN.