Lithuanian MEP Gražulis’ vow to give away half his pay was bribery

Petras Gražulis, a politician recently elected to the European Parliament, was bribing voters when he was promising to give away half of his MEP salary, Lithuania’s Central Electoral Commission (VRK) decided on Thursday.

Seven VRK members supported the decision, two were against and two abstained.

According to the VRK, the Electoral Code prohibits candidates from directly or indirectly buying votes, including through gifts, favours or promises to pay voters after elections, with the aim of influencing their choice.

The election watchdog considered Gražulis’ public promise to give half of his salary to voters if he were elected to the European Parliament.

“Gražulis, as a candidate, both during debates and when disseminating his political advertising, vowed to repay people by giving 50 percent of his salary if they trusted him and elected him,” Ilona Bondzinskaitė of the VRK said on Thursday, presenting the conclusion of the investigation.

Gražulis, now an elected MEP, insisted that all Lithuanian citizens could count on his financial support, regardless of whether or not they participated in the election and voted for him or not.

“A commission will be set up [to distribute financial support] and no one will ask whether you took part in the vote or voted for Gražulis,” Gražulis told the VRK meeting on Thursday.

He insisted that giving away half of his pay was “social responsibility”, saying that MEPs are well-paid and receive additional allowances.

“I think that it is a good thing to be socially responsible, that if we receive a lot of income, we should share it,” Gražulis said.

Gražulis is the leader of the People and Justice Union which won 5.34 percent of the vote during the European Parliament elections, securing one EP seat.

Last year, Gražulis was impeached and stripped of his seat in the Lithuanian parliament, Seimas, because he had cast a vote for another MP.

Gražulis is still on trial for hate speech against LGBTQ people and he was previously found guilty in a corruption case for acting in the interests of Judex, a producer of frozen products.