Lithuania Monthly: European Parliament Elections

Key Insights:

In June, Lithuanians took to social media to discuss a range of trending topics, as revealed by social media monitoring platform Awario. These were the most engaging stories:

1. Lithuania electing 11 MEPs amid the lowest voter turnout since 2009; 
2. war in Ukraine: Trump saying that Ukraine will not win the war, Vladimir Putin’s new idea to create an alternative to NATO and claims of Jake Sullivan that F-16 fighter jets will be deployed in Ukraine; 
3. the European Parliament election results: the Conservatives won three seats, and the Social Democrats won two; 
4. Social Security and Labour Minister Monika Navickienė resigned from her post after the media published details about her ties with a fintech company under investigation; 
5. four Lithuanian restaurants earning Michelin stars;
6. the ECB’s decision to lower interest rates and economists’ predictions that at least one more cut can be expected; 
7. the Palestinian death toll reaching 38,000 in Gaza;
8. removal of an illegal memorial board for Kazys Škirpa (controversial Lithuanian diplomat and military officer) in Vilnius: officers had to use force;
9.  Andrius Mazuronis is considering withdrawing from the Labor Party; 
10.  100th Anniversary of the Lithuanian Song Celebration that gathered thousands of enthusiasts

• Analysing specifically Kremlin-aligned media in Lithuania, media monitoring tools revealed a strong focus on domestic issues during the reporting period, with the European elections taking place. Even though many articles from Kremlin-aligned outlets provided neutral coverage of the record-low voter turnout and general voting statistics, there were still doubts about their transparency and even questions over their legitimacy. For example, well-known anti-government actor Vaidas Žemaitis Lekštutis, in his article “Is it worth voting in the European Parliament elections?”, not only discouraged people from voting but also stated that because the 2004 referendum to join the EU violated laws and people were “generally tricked into joining the union”, the 2024 elections were therefore unlawful. Some malign outlets broadly discredited both – the politicians elected to the European Parliament and the Parliament itself, publishing articles with headlines like “Lithuanians elected political groups into the political dumpster”. Malign actors have also targeted Monika Navickienė, former Social Security and Labour Minister, as they continued to dig deeper into her business connections; much attention gathered on Gabrielius Landsbergis, current Minister of Foreign Affairs, who got harshly criticised for his prospects to become an EU Commissioner.

• According to research published during the reporting period, Lithuanians are among the EU citizens who check the reliability of information published on the internet the least. Eurostat data shows that only 15% of Lithuanians surveyed in 2023 fact-checked the content of information found on internet news sites or social media. Only two other EU countries had a lower figure – Romania with 13% and Cyprus with 10%. In response to these figures, Minister of Economy and Innovation Aušrinė Armonaitė stated that everything starts with the education system, while disinformation analyst Nerijus Maliukevičius encouraged politicians to make an effort to solve the challenges of long-term media literacy through education.

Overview of findings: 

• A similar number, total of 633 articles, compared to 666 articles analysed during May, were scrutinised from four Kremlin-aligned media outlets still actively operating in Lithuania: 77.lt, bukimevieningi.lt, ekspertai.eu and laisvaslaikrastis.lt.  
• News outlet 77.lt held its leading position in activity throughout the month, releasing 385 articles or the absolute majority – 61% of all articles scrutinised during June. The official Facebook page of the same media acted on a slower pace of activity, releasing 136 posts, compared to 169 published throughout May. As usual, the posts covered a variety of topics, yet the most engaged ones appeared to be related to Ukraine and support for the country in war. For example, post with a provocative headline “Supporting Ukraine or profiting from the naive: a number of organisations caught in scams” (see screenshot on the upper right) were among the most engaged 77.lt posts during this month, as well as another one, covering Viktor Orban and his statements to Jens Stoltenberg, who arrived in Hungary: “we will not send any people, weapons or money to the mission in Ukraine” (see screenshot on the lower right). Posts like these were strongly supported by the followers of 77.lt page, encouraging the withdrawal of any support for Ukraine, belittling those who “believe in scams and donate” and praising Orban, calling him “the last” or “the only” intelligent person in the European politics to “stand for his own country first.
  
• Another topic, that has been widely covered by the Kremlin-aligned media, was the suggestion by Mayor of Kaunas, Visvaldas Matijošaitis, to erect a monument to Lithuania’s former president, Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas, in the Courtyard of the Historical Presidential Palace in Kaunas. Public and politicians quickly got divided on this idea, as Brazauskas remains a controversial figure in the country‘s history: he became the first secretary of the Lithuanian Communist party in 1988, just as popular demonstrations denouncing the Soviet occupation of the Baltic countries were getting underway. While independent media was more sceptical on the suggestion, pro-Kremlin outlet’s followers massively supported and celebrated this idea, calling it a “very important project”, praising him as a President, or even calling Brazauskas “the last wise person in Lithuanian politics”. 
• Closely associated with 77.lt persona, one of the main pro-Kremlin actors and a well-known participant in anti-government protests, Antanas Kandrotas, publicly known under the nickname Celofanas (Cellophane), further kept his followers entertained on his page “Celofanas LIVE”.  However, a bit less – 36 posts, compared to 51 posts throughout May, appeared on this page. It is also worth reminding that Celofanas is imprisoned at the moment, and his page still manages to remain active, mostly featuring his companions in the livestreams. 
• Despite being imprisoned, one of the most engaged Facebook posts on this page during the reporting month featured Kandrotas himself in the police office. (see screenshot on the right). In the video that has been watched over 17K times, Kandrotas tells about an alleged “committed and hidden crime” by the Lithuanian police, as they “came one day and beaten everybody imprisoned up with the security cameras turned off”. Kandrotas compares Lithuanian police forces with the ones in Russia and Belarus and tells his followers that “he was silenced when trying to speak about it”, therefore, asking everyone to fill in the claims at ePolicija.lt platform to shed some light on the crime.  

Story of the month: European Parliament Elections

Elections for the European Parliament took place in Lithuania on 9^th June. The ruling Homeland Union-Christian Democrats of Lithuania (EPP) achieved the best results, securing three seats in the European Parliament with 21.3% of the vote. The centre-left Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (S&D), which had led in the pre-election polls, came second with 18% of the vote and two of Lithuania’s 11 seats. One of the most surprising results was Petras Gražulis winning a seat for the upcoming parliamentary term.

Gražulis is a well-known and highly controversial politician, best known for his strong opposition to LGBTQ+ rights. He was impeached and stripped of his seat in the Lithuanian parliament last year after casting a vote for another MP and has been barred from running for elected office in Lithuania for ten years. However, he was elected to the European Parliament with the Nation and Justice Union, winning the party’s only seat. After he was elected, Gražulis said he felt an affinity with the European Conservatives and Reformists Group and would like to join it. He also said he would most like to work in the field of human rights. Politico.eu even included Gražulis among “The 23 kookiest MEPs heading to the European Parliament”, with a short headline: “Impeached and facing prosecution”.

National media broadcaster LRT wrote a Facebook post covering this result, saying that: “Gražulis claimed that he did not expect to win the mandate, and during the election campaign he was engaged in educational activities and explaining to people that Lithuania cannot turn away from Christian values”. The post received a lot of reactions, with many commenters congratulating Gražulis and wishing luck in “protecting the Christian values” (see screenshot on the left). Similar congratulatory messages circulated in Kremlin-aligned media outlets and social media pages, where anti-government sentiments are prominent and Gražulis is constantly portrayed as an “anti-systemic” politician.

The mood on the Facebook page of Oleg Surajev, a well-known pro-Ukrainian activist, was completely different. Surajev wrote the following post following Gražulis’ election: “*Censored*, Gražulis in Brussels; good luck to Belgium with this degenerate. Seriously, best of luck to everyone in life, at least we won’t see this piece of sh*t in here”. The post received significant engagement, with over 3,000 reactions (see first screenshot on the right). Commenters supported Surajev and agreed that Gražulis’ election was absurd, with comments like: “I swear we’re gonna hear him screaming all the way from Strasbourg” (see second screenshot below).

After the results were officially published, posts started circulating online, with ironic comments like: “Thanks everyone who didn’t spend 5 minutes and do their civic duty; now this piece of sh*t who was finally kicked out of politics will represent Lithuania for the whole term and glorify Russia for European money”. Emphasising the record-low voter turnout and raising concerns about its impact on the results, these posts were also heavily engaged, with comments encouraging people to vote in the Lithuanian parliamentary elections later this year.