The Freedom Party nominates D. Žalim as president, he promises to be fair to everyone

“I think the goals are both to offer an alternative and to win,” the dean of the Faculty of Law of Vytautas Magnus University told BNS on Tuesday. “I could make this institution fair for everyone, based on my professional and professional qualities, taking into account my professional and public work experience.”

50-year-old D. Žalimas, who is returning to politics, is an expert in constitutional law who obtained a doctorate degree from Vilnius University and has worked in the Constitutional Court for about ten years since 2011, and for most of that time – since 2014 – he was its chairman.

In 1996, D. Žalimas joined the Fatherland Union, but left the party five years later.

From 1998 to 2011, the presidential candidate served as an advisor to the Minister of National Defense. During this period, as a member of the conservative list, he took part in three elections: in 2000 to the Vilnius Municipal Council and to the Seimas, in 2009 to the European Parliament, but he was not elected.

However, when the seat became vacant in 2001, the lawyer became a member of the Vilnius Municipality Council and held this position until the end of his term in 2003.

Currently, D. Žalimas teaches at VMU and Mykolas Romeris University Institute of International and European Union Law.

The “Laisviečių” candidate for the country’s leaders claims that in recent years the Presidency has been “mainly used to realize personal, offensive ambitions or to satisfy outdated stereotypes”.

“The president must be fair to everyone. This is one of the main constitutional imperatives, said the lawyer. “At the moment, we practically do not notice either leadership of moral authority or leadership in key issues for the country.”

I think the goals are both to offer an alternative and to win

“I don’t want to waste another five years in vain. The last year of the presidency, I think, is a period of lost opportunities and stagnation for Lithuania,” he added.

He does not think about the further political future

The presidential candidate of the Freedom Party says that he and this political force, which was established a little more than four years ago, share common values.

“We have common value bases – an approach to the rule of law, human rights, democracy, in the end – to the need to make decisions and act decisively,” said D. Žalimas.

“This is a natural convergence of values. (…) We both found each other, really,” he added.

The lawyer aspiring for the position of the head of the country says that for now he is only thinking about the presidential elections, but he does not rule out the possibility of staying in politics, even if he is not elected.

“How it will be in the future, no one can say anything,” said D. Žalimas.

Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has already announced her candidacy for the presidency in 2024, and she is nominated by the ruling Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats.

The Union of Lithuanian Peasants and Greens delegates to the elections the former Minister of Health, member of the Seimas Aurelijas Verygas, the Union of Democrats “Vardan Lietuvos” – the former Deputy Minister of National Defense and Deputy Secretary General of NATO Giedrim Jeglinskas.

Former army commander Valdas Tutkus, Kazlų Rūda mayor Mantas Varaška, Antanas Kandrotas, nicknamed Cellophane, who is on trial in the case of the riots near the Seimas, also announced their candidacies in the elections.

When asked how he fundamentally differs from I. Šimonytė, who is supported by some liberals, D. Žalimas named openness.

“What the Government and many political leaders really lack is open, honest, direct communication with the public,” said the candidate.

According to him, this leads to the fact that even good, but not properly explained decisions are “overgrown with conspiracy theories, exploited for disinformation”.

“Perhaps we need new and fresh faces in the political arena,” said D. Žalimas.

He promises to share visits to EVT

According to public opinion polls, the current leader of the country, Gitanas Nausėda, is the clearest favorite to win the elections, the top three are also lawyer Ignas Vėgėlė and I.Šimonytė.

I. Vēgėlė and G. Nausėda have not yet announced whether they will participate in them.

The candidate of the Freedom Party claims that he sees no need to change Lithuania’s foreign policy positions, but emphasizes that they could be stricter.

“Of course, support for freedom around the world and, above all, unconditional support for Ukraine, because the future of Lithuania also depends on it, of course remains. However, there are untapped opportunities here, and those opportunities are in the absence of the president’s leadership, perhaps in the formation of relevant positions in the EU and NATO,” said the lawyer.

“I really miss a stronger Lithuanian voice, it really could be. (…) Sometimes, it seems to me, Lithuania’s position is expressed too moderately”, he added.

What the Government and many political leaders really lack is open, honest, direct communication with the public

D. Žalimas also says that he misses the closer cooperation of the head of the country, G. Nausėdas, with the Government, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appoints Lithuanian diplomats to the country’s representative offices.

The presidential candidate indicates that, unlike the current leader of Lithuania, he would share visits to the meetings of the European Council of Ministers with the head of the Cabinet of Ministers.

“I think that the one whose responsibility the issue under consideration belongs to should drive,” asserted D. Žalimas.

This question was raised for some time by the ruling conservatives who won the Seimas elections in 2020.

They called on G. Nausėdas to give way to Prime Minister I. Šimonyta at EVT meetings, when the issues under consideration touch on the Government’s areas of responsibility. The head of the country rejected such an idea, arguing that foreign policy in Lithuania is led by the president.

He promises to gather in domestic politics

According to D. Žalim, the specific role of the head of the country in domestic politics depends on “with whom the president has to cooperate: with which Government and ruling coalition”.

“The president should play the role of a gathering authority – when various controversial issues arise, show leadership and initiative in solving these issues, and not criticize only from the side, from a high perspective,” said D. Žalimas.

He claims that in order to demonstrate leadership, he would use the tools available to the president: the ability to submit bills, veto laws, and dictate the priorities of the political agenda.

“After all, there is an instrument that is not used at all for some reason, although it exists according to the Constitution – the possibility to appeal the Government’s decisions to the Constitutional Court,” said the candidate.

“All instruments must be used as best they can,” he added.

D. Žalimas claims that he will not be a populist and will not promise unfulfillable things during the election campaign.

Aušrinė Armonaitė, the head of the Freedom Party, which nominated the lawyer for president, says that D. Žalimas is the kind of candidate who, after winning the elections, “would bravely represent and defend the values ​​of a free country and free people”.

“In the elections, the Freedom Party will have a truly worthy representative of the country’s leader, who would never bring shame to Lithuania and would be an equally fair president for everyone,” the politician said in a statement released on Tuesday evening.

Presidential elections in Lithuania will be held next May.