On March 18, Vilnius residents will go to the ballot boxes to cast their vote in the second round of mayoral elections. But those in Lithuania’s second city will have a day off, as Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis already secured a third term on Sunday with 58.33 percent of the vote.
The original article is available in Lithuanian here.
Matijošaitis said he had expected this result. Asked how his third term would be different, he mentioned new plans for Kaunas.
“A city is a construction site, where the everyday life of all the people living there must fit,” he said, adding that in the next term, he would focus more on bridges. Four bridge projects are already prepared, he said.
Matijošaitis likes to praise his achievements in construction when talking about his mayorship. For many Kaunas residents, this is also why they want to see the current mayor continuing his work.
“Everything is renovated. Take the Darius and Girėnas Stadium, the Town Hall, the swimming pools, the Science Island is under construction, and many reconstructions are planned for the future,” Vidmantas, a Kaunas resident, previously told BNS.
Read more: Lithuania’s local elections: results summary
In the 2019 mayoral elections, however, Matijošaitis beat his rivals by a landslide in the first round with 79.6 percent of the vote. His political committee United Kaunas also won 26 seats on Sunday, a secure majority in the city’s 41-member Council, but down from 32 seats currently.
Before the election, Matijošaitis was criticised for his family business Vičiūnai Group, a major Lithuanian food production company. The group's owners and managers have been promising to sell their business in Russia ever since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine but have not done so yet.
Asked how the voters’ mood was affected by the ongoing business in Russia, Matijošaitis said this was a separate topic.
“Many years ago, I used to receive medals for working all over the world. But today, some jokers – I don’t know what else to call them – are laughing at what Kaunas people have created. There are very few companies in Lithuania that have reached such a scale as Vičiūnai. It’s not our fault that the war started. We are leaving [Russia],” he said.
“I don't know who they serve, those who don't believe that we will leave Russia. Being on the other side, I understand what they expect us to do, that we would leave everything in Russia for free,” he added.
Read more: Local elections in Kaunas: drive to break the incumbent’s power monopoly
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
