As Lithuanian MP Remigijus Žemaitaitis, who has recently been found to have broken his oath of office, decided to step down from the Seimas and thus avoid a ten-year ban on being elected, some members of the ruling block say the existing impeachment procedure should be changed.
Last week, the Lithuanian Constitutional Court ruled that Žemaitaitis broke his oath of office and grossly violated the constitution with his statements about Jewish people. Following the ruling, the MPs were to vote on stripping Žemaitaitis of his mandate.
Further reading
A person removed from the Seimas through impeachment for a serious violation of the constitution or for breaking their oath of office is banned from standing for election to any office with an oath for ten years.
However, Žemaitaitis, who is currently running for president, will avoid this ban after he submitted his resignation on Monday.
“The existing legal framework is flawed. The Constitutional Court says we have the fact of oath-breaking and a gross violation of the constitution, but by resigning one can avoid those constitutional consequences,” Deputy Seimas Speaker Jurgis Razma, representing the ruling conservative Homeland Union, told BNS.
It would be more logical to make the impeachment procedure compulsory, even if a member of the Seimas resigns, he added.
Razma says he will consider proposing such amendments. According to him, however, they may also require changes to the constitution. He also doubts that such a move would find sufficient support in the parliament.
For her part, Agnė Širinskienė of the non-attached political group says she sees no need to change the current procedure. According to her, although a lawmaker who has renounced their mandate is not banned from standing for election to the Seimas for ten years, they will stand before “the most objective and supreme judge – voters”.
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