2024-08-05 22:19:44
Even before the event, the CEC received a complaint about the Ice Cream Festival. It was requested to assess whether there were any violations of the norms of the Election Code at the event organized by the “Vikonda group” associated with the founder of the Labor Party, Viktor Uspaskich.
The complaint is currently being examined by the Kėdainiai electoral district, which also evaluates the statements made by politicians during the celebration, as well as other aspects related to possible agitation.
There is no such thing as a free lunch, says popular wisdom. And indeed, the residents and guests of the city who gathered for the Ice Cream Festival held after a four-year hiatus may have been able to grab tokens for free ice cream, they could have enjoyed free concerts, but for that they had to listen to politicians’ speeches from the stage and watch maybe not so much in the sky obvious but political agitation.
For many years, the Ice Cream Festival has been associated with its initiator, the founder of the Labor Party and V. Uspaskich, who temporarily returned to lead the political force. Although he is no longer the main shareholder of Vikonda Group, this position is now held by his ex-wife Jolanta Blazytė.
The businesswoman was recently recorded going to meetings where the future of the Labor Party was discussed in the upcoming Seimas elections, V. Uspaskich himself has admitted that he offered her to take over the party’s sinking helm, but she refused.
As a result, it is not surprising that the shadow of illegal political agitation always falls on this event. Especially since the ratings of the Labor Party are at the bottom, so they are trying to be resurrected from the point of death.
According to the latest ratings of the Vilmorus company, only 2.8 percent would vote for the Labor Party if the elections were held next Sunday. survey participants, when in March they were 4.7 percent. Therefore, she would not enter the parliament.
Due to possible political connections, the invited Lithuanian pop star began to withdraw from the event in the last days – singer Jordana Butkutė and the group “Biplan” decided not to perform at the Ice Cream Festival.
V.Uspaskich himself bragged on his social network accounts about how he was going to the celebration, during it he went on stage, talked about the importance of family and peace, took pictures with the representatives of the “Peace Coalition” he had gathered, and finally, during the drone show, the word ” Peace”.
“Everything passes, and the wonderful Peace Festival with fireworks and a drone show is over. It’s a pity for those who were not lucky enough to participate”, one of the representatives of the “Peace Coalition”, former army commander Valdas Tutkus, shared photos with the word “Peace” made from drones on his Facebook account.
V.Uspaskich himself willingly went up to speak on stage, posted many videos with excerpts from the performers’ performances on his Facebook account. One of them shows him addressing everyone present.
“You are like bits, you understand. You come to Kėdainii, to the Ice Cream Festival, to collect all the nectar, all the taste. And where do the flies fly? Those who were afraid to come to this celebration? Not and let it fly there”, said V. Uspaskich.
From the stage, he told people to chant the words “love”, “children”, “parents”, “peace”. Then they asked to raise their hands, otherwise they threatened to cancel the helicopter with ice cream chips that had taken off.
The Ice Cream Festival has caught the attention of the CEC before – the last time the event was also held in the 2020 election year. Then V. Uspaskich invited residents to participate in the event on his Facebook account, and this invitation was investigated by the CEC for possible political advertising.
Having returned to the Labor Party, V. Uspaskich will lead the coalition list of three political forces to the Seimas. The Lithuanian Christian Democracy Party led by Seimas member Mindaugas Puidokas and the Žemaičiai Party led by Irena Stražinskaitė-Glinskienė will participate in the parliamentary elections together with the “workers”.
The parties called themselves the “Peace Coalition”.
2024-08-05 22:19:44