“I will be the president who fights for the national state of Lithuania,” Mazuronis said in a presentation of his election program in Vilnius on Monday, announcing Free. Fair. Prospering. as its slogan.
He envisages three steps in the electoral program, namely, consolidating the national state, discarding surplus bans and reducing social inequality.
“We must go back to the concept of the Lithuanian state, we are a national state by the Constitution. The Constitution stipulates that the Lithuanian state should be developed by the state, and the sovereignty belongs to the nation,” said Mazuronis.
Under the program, he intends to “foster the historical memory, language and culture, develop wise foreign policy that would benefit Lithuania, create and protect Lithuanian banks, airlines, media, railways and forests.”
Asked to specify the source of funding the election campaign, Mazuronis said he was still coping with his personal money but did not name the head of his election staff who will help him collect 20,000 signatures needed to be registered as candidate.
In Lithuania, presidential election is scheduled for the first half of 2019.
So far, presidential candidacy plans have been announced by former diplomats Vygaudas Ušackas and Žygimantas Pavilionis who have confirmed they would join the conservative party’s initial election for president.
MPs Naglis Puteikis and Aušra Maldeikienė have also announced plans to run for president. The Liberal Movement should pick a candidate during general ballot this weekend, choosing from two candidates: MEP Petras Auštrevičius and Lithuania’s former ambassador to UNESCO MP Arūnas Gelūnas.
Other potential candidates include SEB bank economist Gitanas Nausėda, MP Ingrida Šimonytė, European Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis and Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, while Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis ranking high in public opinion polls has not yet announced his decision.