2024-07-25 19:40:18
The Ice Cream Festival has been held in this city since 1995, later this tradition was suspended, but there is one detail – the Ice Cream Festival, like the last time it was held in 2020, is being revived again just before the Seimas elections.
News portal lrytas.lt already announced that V. Uspaskich, who has returned to the Labor Party, is preparing to storm the Seimas – he is joining a coalition with several other political forces and will be its leader.
Earlier, he had hinted that if he did not keep the list himself, he would like to transfer this responsibility to his ex-spouse J. Blažyte.
Although the company denies any talks about links with the elections, the event organized at the beginning of August has already caught the attention of the Central Election Commission (CEC) – they promise to closely monitor the Ice Cream Festival so that it is not used for electoral purposes.
For the portal lrytas.lt V. Uspaskichas confirmed that he will participate in the celebration, maybe he will also give a congratulatory speech.
Before October – commotion
“The celebration, in which SEL and Jordana Butkutė will surprise with impressive performances, will begin with a sky performance, well known by the people of Kedaine and all Lithuanians under the name of “ice cream rain”.
Tens of thousands of Ice Cream Festival tokens will soon be seen from the helicopter, which will be exchanged for ice cream right here”, – this is the invitation to the event shared by representatives of the “Vikonda Group” this week.
The celebration to be held on August 3, it is noted, is revived by the commemoration of the company’s birthday soon.
“This group of companies is an integral part of the Kėdainiai region community, so on the eve of the anniversary, in commemoration of the 34th birthday of the Vikonda Group, we want to thank not only the employees for the fact that with our daily work we all create Lithuania, where our children grow up, but also celebrate together with the entire community, therefore, one of the oldest traditions of the “Vikonda Group” is being revived – holding an Ice Cream Festival at the beginning of August,” the invitation reads.
The organizers plan to distribute 34 thousand portions of ice cream to the residents.
The last time the Ice Cream Festival was held in Kėdainiai was in 2020 – also just a few months before the Seimas elections. We will elect a new parliament in mid-October.
However, the Election Commission of Kėdainiai District found that V. Uspaskich, who has been inseparable from this holiday for many years, violated the Seimas Election Law by promoting the event on his social network, as he distributed unmarked political advertising.
The Labor Party has already decided that it will go to the Seimas elections in autumn not alone, but with the “Peace Coalition”, which includes the Lithuanian Christian Democracy Party led by MP Mindaugas Puidokas, the Žemaičiai Party led by Irena Stražinskaitė-Glinskienė, as well as General Valdas Tutkus, who took part in the presidential elections, with his team .
That’s right, the portal 15min announced that the actor Žilvinas Tratas and the owner of the concern “Vikonda grupė” and the ex-wife of V. Uspaskich, J. Blažytė, were also captured near the headquarters of the Labor Party in Vilnius in mid-July.
It is not excluded that their names may also appear in the coalition list.
V. Uspaskich does not emphasize the talk about the elections
When asked whether some or other politicians are expected at the event, Kristina Kasparaviče, head of communication of “Vikonda group” told the portal lrytas.lt emphasized that the Ice Cream Festival is not a political event.
According to her, considerations about the upcoming elections are just separate subjective opinions.
“Vikonda group” is a business organization that gives a holiday to its employees and to the community and country in which it works.
In 2020, as Vikonda Group celebrated its 30th anniversary, the tradition of “ice cream rain” was revived. This year, when “Vikonda Group” is celebrating its birthday, the legendary Ice Cream Festival will take place with “ice cream rain”, commented K. Kasparaviče.
V. Uspaskich, who recently returned to the Labor Party and became its temporary chairman, told the portal lrytas.lt for his part, he said that he would traditionally participate in the Ice Cream Festival this time as well.
“Yes, I will be. Perhaps (I will give) a speech – I always went out at all Ice Cream Festivals, it doesn’t matter whether it’s an election or not,” the politician assured.
V. Uspaskich said that he did not emphasize the considerations about the connection of the event with the elections – according to him, the celebration is not organized by the Labor Party.
“The Ice Cream Festival is a traditional festival, so I don’t emphasize it. This is not done by V. Uspaskich – it is done by “Vikonda”, which does not belong to Uspaskich, so I am the least concerned about those issues in this place”, – to the portal lrytas.lt said the leader of the “workers”.
When asked if he already had clearer information about the political plans of his ex-wife J. Blažytė, V. Uspaskich said he could not say anything.
“I have no information. We haven’t spoken in a week or two, I don’t know. Now I’m away, I’m celebrating my birthday, so I don’t care who, how and where,” he claimed.
Political scientist: It’s obvious
Mykolas Romeris University (MRU) political scientist Saulius Spurga is convinced that the Ice Cream Festival in Kėdainiai is revived not only because of the company’s birthday.
“Of course, it’s connected to the election, and there are a lot of those tricks. It must be understood that there are so many tricks that it is very difficult to predict everything legally and to clarify where things are hidden and where things are open.
I suspect that this is deliberate, and legally, it is difficult to prove exactly that there is advertising here. But in the context of Lithuania, it is clear to everyone, because it is a classic here.
I wish those who will conduct the investigation, diligence and attentiveness”, commented the political scientist.
S. Spurga had no doubt that such pampering works for voters – this was shown by the example of the election campaign of the impeached president Rolandas Paks.
“If it didn’t work, it wouldn’t be done. Already after the R.Paks scandal, it was understood that these methods work, and that relatively small amounts, from a global perspective, can have a very large influence on the elections.
Since then, step by step, many measures have been introduced that limit both external advertising and various expressions, advertising on social networks, large-scale financing of companies has been abandoned, small grants have remained, and parties have received state funding.
Someone says that election campaigns in Lithuania are boring – well, they are boring, but apparently it has to be, because people are affected by those things”, thought S. Spurga.
According to MRU political scientist, personalities and their ideas should compete in elections, not ice cream or other gifts falling from the sky.
The CEC is monitoring the situation
The news about this event has already reached the Central Election Commission, but until Wednesday afternoon, the Central Election Commission confirmed that it had not received any complaints or reports about the Ice Cream Festival in Kėdainiai.
“The assessment of whether the requirements of the law were not violated during the organization of the event would be carried out already after the event has taken place.
The CEC will monitor the situation, and we hope that the provisions of the Election Code will be followed,” – lrytas.lt stated CEC representative Indrė Ramanavičienė.
2024-07-25 19:40:18