Main narratives:
- questioning the transparency of the politicians;
- speculating signature frauds in online signing for specific candidates;
- general anti-government sentiments;
- anti-LGBT sentiments,
Overview:
During this reporting week, the focus was on the upcoming Presidential elections and other domestic issues. Kremlin-aligned actors emphasised the recent findings that there were some cyber security violations while collecting signatures to ensure presidential candidacies online. The main target immediately became Ingrida Šimonytė, the current Prime Minister, who collected the necessary number of signatures at record speed. As she represents the ruling government, these cyber security issues overlapped with general anti-government sentiments. Moreover, recent massive financial scandals still often appears as an argument against the government. Some maligned actors didn’t hesitate to picture local LGBT movements vastly negatively, using a harsh lexicon.
