Competences of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court in so-called „other matters”

The article concerns competence of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court in so-called „other matters”. They include presenting the opinion (of conclusion) in four cases: 1) whether during choices of the president or members of the Seimas the infringed election act didn’t stay, 2) whether the state of health of the president permits him still to perform its duties, 3) whether international agreements of the Lithuanian Republic aren’t contrary to the constitution, 4) whether members of the Seimas and officials, towards which undertaken litigation proceedings stayed, infringed the constitution with one’s specific acts. One should however emphasize that an inspection of norms, as connections is a base of the scope of the cognition of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court oneself with the protection of the precedence of the constitution.

Przedmiotem niniejszego artykułu są wybory parlamentarne w Republice Litewskiej. Podjęto się analizy przebiegu i uwarunkowań instytucjonalnych wyborów, które odbyły się na Litwie w październiku 2020 roku w czasie trwającej pandemii Covid-19. W artykule przeanalizowano takie elementy, jak: wyniki wyborów na Litwie w 2020 r., nowe regulacje wyborcze, a także zaimplementowane nowe techniki głosowania w czasie pandemii. Oprócz tego poruszono także zagadnienia przebiegu kampanii wyborczej, która prowadzona była w warunkach obostrzeń i ograniczeń, które miały zwiększyć bezpieczeństwo wyborców oraz zmniejszyć transmisję koronawirusa SARS-CoV-2.

Since the first quarter of 2020, the whole world has been struggling with the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. More and more governments are introducing restrictions and bans for security reasons, with the aim of limiting the transmission of the virus and reducing health risks for citizens. The scale of the problem is best illustrated by the rising numbers of infections and deaths. In addition to the epidemic threat worldwide, the pandemic has brought to light many other problems and challenges. One of them is growing crisis of democracy around the world. Using a systemic approach, the article sets out to analyse the state and problems of contemporary Lithuanian democracy under pandemic conditions, focusing also on indicators of democracy and public opinion polls. It evaluates, inter alia, the state of Lithuanian democracy, the political system and its openness to citizens.

This article aims to analyze the use of new technologies (ICT) in the election process in Lithuania, understood as election procedures and electronic voting. While ICT is widely used in the registration of voters, calculating voting results, or announcing election results, so far, the concept of electronic voting in Lithuania raises many concerns. However, it is anticipated that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, new regulations may be adopted, and electronic voting will contribute to the modernization of election procedures and help maintain sanitary requirements in the current crisis. Based on the analysis of legal acts, reports of international organizations, and the results of academic research, the author proves that new technologies significantly affect the operation of the broadly understood electoral apparatus. They can also increase electoral accessibility and participation, improve electoral processes in the context of new challenges, and stimulate the international visibility of the state.

The Political Position of the President in the Parliamentary and Semi-presidential Systems in the Light of the Lithuanian Constitutions of 1922 and 1992

This article aims to analyze the political position of the president in the parliamentary systems of interwar Lithuania and the semi-presidential system of modern Lithuania. The analysis covers the regulations of Lithuanian constitutions of 1922 and 1992. The article assesses the most important legal provisions concerning the political position of the head of state. The subject of the analysis is still relevant, as Lithuania, like during the first independence period, adopted the same political system, restoring its pre-war solutions (including reactivating the institution of the head of state). Identifying the differences and similarities in the systemic position of the institution of the head of state in the light of the Lithuanian basic laws seems to be an issue worth scientific research.

Alternative voting procedures in Polish and Lithuanian election law

Organizing voting in general elections only in the traditional way (i.e., at the ballot boxes) may make it difficult for more and more voters to participate. This is due to the increasing mobility of society and the fact that citizens are away from home on election day, the aging population and much more difficult access of the old and the sick to polling stations, and – as shown in the years 2020–2021 – unexpected epidemic crises that affect public health, which in turn translates into the election process. This article focuses on alternative voting methods in Poland and Lithuania. The main intention of the authors is to analyze the legal basis and compare the functioning of alternative voting procedures in the electoral systems of both countries, as well as to answer the question about the possibility of introducing new forms of voting that could increase the health safety of voters and ensure the democratic nature of elections in emergency situations. The motivation to take up this topic were: the wprowapresidential elections in Poland in 2020 and the parliamentary elections in Lithuania in 2021, during which not only alternative voting methods were used (e.g., correspondence voting), but also the possibility of implementing completely new solutions – safe in the event of spreading coronavirus pandemic.

The COVID-19 caused a global crisis of an unprecedented scale. In order to contain the spread of the virus, governments took instant measures, adopting new legal regulations which included restrictions and limitations in the sphere of constitutional rights and freedoms. The aim of the paper is to discuss protesters’ actions and their different forms, and to analyse the response of law enforcement officers who secured demonstrations. I undertook to find the answers to two fundamental research questions: What action did protesters take during the pandemic in Lithuania? What was the character and intensity of the surveillance, intimidation and presence of the police during demonstrations? The research covers the period from 11 March 2020, when the World Health Organization declared the pandemic, to the autumn of 2021, when anti-vaccine protests took place in Lithuania. In the study, I applied the institutional and legal analysis, as well as the qualitative source analysis.

Biography of one of the priests (members of the Society of Jesus) living and working in the Vilnius region in the first half of the 20th century; persecuted by the Soviet authorities for his pastoral activities; one of the confessors and spiritual directors and the author of one of the first studies on the life and spirituality of Sister Wanda Boniszewska CSA – a Polish mystic and stigmatic.

To green Ukraine and to those green meadows... The Eastern borderlands of the Second Polish Republic as an object of sightseeing interest for Poles – an attempt at a summary

This article is an attempt to look at selected factors accounting for the popularity among Polish tourists a few years ago of the area known as the Eastern borderlands of the Second Polish Republic (Pol.: Kresy). Methodologically, the autoethnographic study involves an analysis of desk research (the 2019 CBOS survey and the observations made by other researchers). Starting from the CBOS quantitative data recording the scale of Poles’ trips in this direction, the author looks at selected qualitative circumstances which may, to some extent, be behind the preferences diagnosed in the survey, but also behind the broader interest in these sites. The considerations include the (geo)political reality, specific (Eastern borderland-like) experiences, Polish traces, literature, film and Galician and migration myths – assigned to three main thematic areas (Europeanization versus a good national self-sense, Polish traces, and literature, films and myths). Although the essence of the considerations seems to favour Ukraine, the “question of priority” was left – as it is the case in quantitative research – open, focusing on broadening the context of the whole issue.

The article outlines the central tenets of Lithuania’s new foreign policy, which is anchored in its ambition to play a pivotal role within the NATOfocused Eastern Partnership, particularly with regard to Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. The aim is to foster democratization in these regions and facilitate their prospective integration into NATO. The authors present two key arguments. First, Lithuania’s capacity to influence NATO decisions is limited in at least four domains: economic, political, organizational, and military. Second, Lithuania’s efforts to assert its stance, as exemplified during the Vilnius summit, did not consistently align with the interests of major NATO members, specifically the United States and Germany.