Ignas Vėgėlė (born 22 July 1975) is a Lithuanian lawyer and right-wing politician who served as president of the Lithuanian Bar Association from 2014 to 2022, as well as president of the Lithuanian Lawyers' Association from 2013 to 2016. He was a member of the

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

Christian conservative Conservative Christianity, also known as conservative theology, theological conservatism, traditional Christianity, or biblical orthodoxy is a grouping of overlapping and denominationally diverse theological movements within Christianity that se ...

Lithuanian Christian Democrats from 1994 and served as the party's deputy chairman of the board from 2002 to 2004, and as interim chairman of the board from 2004 to 2006 (replacing Petras Gražulis). Upon the party's merger with the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats, he became an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

politician.

Biography

Vėgėlė graduated from the Vilnius University Faculty of Law in 1994 and gained a doctor's degree in law in the Law Academy of Lithuania in 2002. In 2006, he was awarded the title of

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

. He worked at the Lithuanian Lawyers' Association from 1995 to 1996, then - in the law firm "Foresta" from 1996 to 1997 and in the international audit firm "KPMG Lietuva" from 1997 to 2002. Vėgėlė was elected as President of the Lithuanian Bar Association in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. As President of the Bar Association, Vėgėlė sharply criticized the handling of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Lithuania The COVID-19 pandemic in Lithuania was a part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have reached Lithuan ...

and claimed that the pandemic restrictions imposed by the

Šimonytė Cabinet Šimonytė Cabinet was the 18th cabinet of the national government of the Republic of Lithuania. It consisted of the former Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė who was the Head of Government, and 14 government ministers from the Homeland Union � ...

violated the

Constitution of Lithuania The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania () defines the legal foundation for all laws passed in the Republic of Lithuania. The first constitution of the contemporary republic was enacted on 1 August 1922. The current constitution was ...

and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

. Though he stated his support for

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

in the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

, he questioned the transparency of crowdfunding initiatives for Ukraine, including the People's Bayraktar campaign initiated by

Andrius Tapinas Andrius Balys Tapinas (born 6 April 1977) is a Lithuanian journalist, TV anchor, and writer. Tapinas was the anchor and producer of a long-running popular Lithuanian TV program ''The Money Generation''. Since 2014, he hosts the Lithuanian TV pr ...

. Ewelina Dobrowolska, Minister of Justice of Lithuania, raised a disciplinary case against Vėgėlė, which he described as a political

witch hunt A witch hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or Incantation, incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the ...

Political career

Early political career

Vėgėlė became a member of the Christian Democratic Union in 1994 and ran as its candidate in

Fabijoniškės Fabijoniškės located in the northern part of Vilnius, is one of the newest districts of Vilnius municipality, built in the late 1980s to early 1990s in the territory of former Fabijoniškės village. Fabijoniškės was the production site of the ...

in the

2000 Lithuanian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Lithuania on 8 October 2000. All 141 seats in the Seimas were up for election, 71 of them in single-seat constituencies based on first-past-the-post voting; the remaining 70, in a nationwide constituency bas ...

. Vėgėlė described himself as a

christian democrat Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian ethics#Politics, Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo ...

and cited Viktoras Petkus and

Zigmas Zinkevičius Zigmas Zinkevičius (4 January 1925 – 20 February 2018) was a Lithuanian academician, Baltist, linguist, linguistic historian, dialectologist, politician, and the former Minister of Education and Science of Lithuania (1996–1998). Zinkevičiu ...

as his political inspirations. In 2001, the Christian Democratic Union merged with the

Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party The Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party (, LKDP) was a Christian-democratic political party in Lithuania. History Russian Empire and Republic of Lithuania A Christian Democratic movement was established in Lithuania in 1890 by a group of Ro ...

to form the Lithuanian Christian Democrats. Vėgėlė was appointed as the vice-chairman to chairman of the party board Petras Gražulis, replacing him as interim chairman after his expulsion due to his radical

anti-LGBT The following outline offers an overview and guide to topics about LGBTQ people. ''LGBTQ'' is an initialism that stands for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer". It may refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual, non-heteroroman ...

views and refusal to participate in party activities. In 2008, after the Lithuanian Christian Democrats merged with the Homeland Union to form the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats, Vėgėlė refused to join the new party. He criticized the party for their appeasement policy towards the

Kirkilas Cabinet Kirkilas Cabinet was the 14th Government of Lithuania, cabinet of Lithuania since 1990. It consisted of the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Prime Minister and 13 government ministers from the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, Social Democratic Pa ...

, insufficient

conservatism Conservatism is a Philosophy of culture, cultural, Social philosophy, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, Convention (norm), customs, and Value (ethics and social science ...

and lack of interest in the

social safety net A social safety net (SSN) consists of non-contributory assistance existing to improve lives of vulnerable families and individuals experiencing poverty and destitution. Examples of SSNs are previously-contributory social pensions, in-kind and foo ...

. He defended the

Lithuanization Lithuanization (or Lithuanianization) is a process of cultural assimilation, where Lithuanian culture or its language is voluntarily or forcibly adopted. History The Lithuanian annexation of Ruthenian lands between the 13th and 15th centuries was ...

policies of

Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

Zigmas Zinkevičius in the

Vilnius Region Vilnius Region is the territory in present-day Lithuania and Belarus that was originally inhabited by ethnic Baltic tribes and was a part of Lithuania proper, but came under East Slavic and Polish cultural influences over time. The territory ...

and attacked the Conservatives for the minister's removal.

2024 presidential campaign

Ignas Vėgėlė officially launched his

presidential campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

on November 29, 2023. According to political scientist Mažvydas Jastramskis, "those who strongly distrust political institutions and the state could vote for him". In his campaign launch event, Vėgėlė stated his intent to defend "Christian values", fight lack of investment in education and healthcare, and combat "LGBTQ propaganda". According to a ''Baltijos tyrimai'' poll, 5.5% of Lithuanians viewed Vėgėlė most favorably of all politicians in the end of 2023, making him the fifth most popular politician in the country. He organized an active campaign, including personal appearances in many rural municipalities. However, he finished third in the election, finishing worse than predicted by opinion polls. According to

Klaipėda University Klaipėda University ( or KU) is a university in the Lithuanian port city of Klaipėda. Overview Klaipėda University was formally founded on 1 January 1991, by a decree of the Seimas (the Lithuanian parliament). The new university incorpora ...

professor Gabrielė Burbulytė-Tsiskarishvili, Vėgėlė performed poorly in pre-election debates and was targeted by the incumbent president,

Gitanas Nausėda Gitanas Nausėda (; ; born 19 May 1964) is a Lithuanian politician, economist, and banker who is serving as the ninth and incumbent president of Lithuania since 2019. Born in Klaipėda, Nausėda graduated from Vilnius University with an economic ...

. Rima Urbonaitė claimed that Vėgėlė performed poorly due to splitting the vote with

Remigijus Žemaitaitis Remigijus Žemaitaitis (born 30 May 1982) is a Lithuanian far right politician and member of the Seimas. He is the founder and leader of the political party Dawn of Nemunas. Early life Žemaitaitis was born on 30 May 1982 in Šilutė. In 2005, ...

Political positions

Vėgėlė describes himself as a Christian Democrat, but he is opposed to the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats and calls it a "left-wing party". He is endorsed by the

, anti-gender ideology political movement Lithuanian Family Movement. He supports

same-sex partnerships A domestic partnership is an intimate relationship between people, usually couples, who live together and share a common domestic life but who are not married (to each other or to anyone else). People in domestic partnerships receive legal ben ...

"in principle", but opposes current proposals for partnership law in the

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania (), or simply the Seimas ( ; ), is the unicameralism, unicameral legislative body of the Lithuania, Republic of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of Government of Lithuania, govern ...

due to the possibility of

same-sex adoption Same-sex adoption is the adoption of children or adults by same-sex couples. It may take the form of a joint adoption by the couple, or of the adoption by one partner of the other's biological child or adult ( stepchild adoption). Joint adopt ...

, and opposes " LGBTQ propaganda". Vėgėlė opposes the

, its anti-China policy and supports simplification of referendum law. In December 2023, Vėgėlė stated that should

be unable to defeat Russia in the

, it should pursue a negotiated peace, and he opposed escalation of the conflict. Vėgėlė is a

soft Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek reform ...

- in an interview with ''Žinių radijas'', he stated that Lithuania should remain a member of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, but the European Union should remain an economic union and the powers of the member states should be safeguarded.

Controversies

Lithuanian journalistic investigation revealed that Vėgėlė's family businesses likely traded with Russia and Belarus and avoided sanctions on Russia by doing business through

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vegele, Ignas 1975 births Vilnius University alumni Living people 20th-century Lithuanian lawyers 21st-century Lithuanian lawyers 21st-century Lithuanian politicians Lithuanian legal scholars Lawyers from Vilnius Lithuanian Christian Democrats politicians