Čmilytė-Nielsen: Social Democrats treat voters as sheep with Baranovas' candidacy

The leader of the Liberal Movement Party, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, has strongly criticized the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party's decision to nominate incumbent MP Ruslanas Baranovas for a by-election in the Nalšia northern constituency. Čmilytė-Nielsen asserts that this move treats voters as naive and signals a complete failure for the younger generation of Social Democrats.

"Young Social Democrats consider voters to be sheep," Čmilytė-Nielsen stated, questioning the logic of an already-elected MP seeking re-election in a by-election. She argued that if Baranovas were genuinely committed to serving the public, another party member who would be elected from the list should be the candidate. While acknowledging that existing laws do not explicitly prohibit this, she contended that such maneuvers go against the spirit of the legislation.

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Young Social Democrats consider voters to be sheep. (...) If he wanted to not fool voters, but to run in earnest – that party colleague who would get elected from the list should run. I know that the argument often voiced from the other side is that the laws do not prohibit this and the Constitution does not prohibit this. But laws and the Constitution were not written for schemers.

Čmilytė-Nielsen described the situation as "complete nonsense," not only fooling voters but also representing a "total bankruptcy" of the young Social Democrats. The by-election was triggered by the death of MP Jevgenij Šuklinas in May. The Social Democrats decided to nominate Baranovas, who is currently serving as an MP elected in the multi-member constituency. However, the Central Electoral Commission (VRK) is yet to rule on whether an incumbent MP can indeed run in a single-member constituency by-election. The registration for candidates runs until July 13, with the by-election scheduled for November 8.

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Any person of sound mind, looking at the fact that a Member of Parliament, who is already in parliament now, wants to be elected to parliament again – understands that this is complete nonsense. This is not only fooling voters, but also a complete bankruptcy of the young generation of Social Democrats.