The nomination of pro-LGBTQ+ candidate to Lithuania's Constitutional Court is baring fissures between liberals and conservatives in the ruling bloc.
Every three years, the parliament speaker, the president and the Supreme Court chair get to nominate one candidate each to join the Constitutional Court. The nominees then have to be approved by a majority vote in the parliament, Seimas.
Last week, Speaker Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, whose Liberal Movement party is a junior partner in the conservative-led coalition, proposed Vytautas Mizaras, a lawyer and professor at Vilnius University.
He is also known for his vocal support for LGBTQ+ rights. Mizaras has represented the community in court cases and advocated for legalising same-sex partnership.
“I am convinced, that [Mizaras] would be a proper addition to the judge panel of the Constitutional Court. I also personally value the experience that this law professional has in the field of human rights,” Čmilytė-Nielsen commented regarding her choice on Facebook.
However, this experience is seen as a liability by some conservative MPs.
“I have no doubt about the qualifications of candidate Mizaras. I simply disagree with his worldview, his views on law in value terms,” said Laurynas Kasčiūnas, a member of the Homeland Union (TS-LKD) party and the chairman of the parliament's Committee on National Security and Defence.
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After the nomination announcement, Kasčiūnas immediately indicated that he would vote against appointing Mizaras to the Constitutional Court.
Even though the liberals and the conservatives are in one coalition, Kasčiūnas has argued that the issue falls under the “values and morals” category in which the coalition agreement gives MPs a free vote.
More conservative MPs are likely to vote against the nomination, believes political scientist Rima Urbonaitė of Mykolas Romeris University.
“It's hard to speculate before we have the results [of the vote], but we can clearly see that ideological fissures [...] can influence decisions related to the make-up of the Constitutional Court,” she told LRT.lt.
Even though the vote will be secret, if Mizaras' nomination is rejected, it will mean that there was a split in the ruling coalition.
MP Vytautas Mitalas, who represents the liberal Freedom Party, the other junior member of the coalition, said his party would support the nomination and criticised the conservatives for focusing on things other than Mizaras' qualifications.
“I think that these rushed statements are premature and are no credit to their authors,” said Mitalas.
The candidate himself said the differing opinions about his activities were “natural”.
“I personally see my services in the field of human rights and to LGBT people as one area in my career that is not in any way exceptional,” he told LRT.lt.
He believes, however, that the voiced opposition to his appointment has more to do with LGBTQ+ issues than with his professional qualifications.
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