The Lithuanian presidential administration confirmed that the current leader Gitanas Nauseda became a member of the CPSU in 1988, however Nauseda did not participate in the party's activities after the start of the independence movement. Lithuanian journalist Dovydas Pancerovas previously published information about the admission of the Lithuanian leader to the Communist Party and documents from the archive on Facebook, specifying that Nauseda did not indicate this fact when he ran for the post of head of state in 2019.
The journalist wrote that he does not claim that membership in the Communist Party is “a stain on his reputation”, however, according to him, Nauseda wants to be associated with the Sąjūdis movement for the restoration of Lithuanian independence.
“President Gitanas Nauseda was admitted to the KP in May 1988. Documents about this are stored in the State Archives and are in the public domain. Since the beginning of the activities of Sąjūdis, Nausėda did not participate in the activities of the KP,” the press service said in response to a request from BNS.
In 2019, during the presidential elections, Nauseda did not answer the question in the CEC questionnaire about his affiliation, including in the past, to any political party or organization. According to the Lithuanian Public Broadcasting Company Lrt, according to Ridas Jasiulionis, Presidential Communications Adviser, this field in the questionnaire was optional.
The previous president Dalia Grybauskaite was also a member of the Communist Party until 1990, she mentioned this in the CEC questionnaires both in 2009 and 2014, reminded Lrt.
