Rinkimų pažadų vykdymas - sizifo darbas?
Fulfillment of Campaign Promises: A Sisyphean Task?

Summary/Abstract: Various articles in the Lithuanian constitution give everyone the right freely to express opinions, form political parties, participate in electoral campaigns, and - subject to stated requirements - run for public office, including the Presidency. Consistent with such rights and freedoms, a party.s candidate for President can focus on the problems he attributes to the policies of the incumbent, while appealing to the voting public for support of his candidacy and his proposed solutions. Regrettably, various other articles of the constitution make the fulfillment of campaign promises a Sisyphean task: the constitution explicitly requires the newly elected President to suspend his party work for the duration of his Presidency, thereby depriving him of the leadership position he held in his own party. The constitution itself thus jeopardizes the implementation of campaign promises the very day the new President assumes office. The article seeks both to highlight these constitutional inconsistencies and to explore ways of alleviating the problems they may cause. Specifically, it suggests that the President be given the right to retain his party leadership position, to remove the Prime Minister from office without legislative approval, and to preside at cabinet meetings.

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