Before the event, the VRK received a complaint about the Ice Cream Festival. The request was to assess whether there were any violations of the Electoral Code norms in the event organised by the Vikonda Group, which is associated with the founder of the Labour Party, Viktor Uspaskich.
The complaint is currently being examined by the Kėdainiai Constituency, which also assesses the statements made by politicians during the event and other aspects related to possible agitation.
Folk wisdom says there is no such thing as a free lunch. Indeed, the Kėdainiai residents and guests who came to the Ice Cream Festival after a four-year break may have been able to get tokens for free ice cream and enjoy free concerts, but in return, they had to listen to politicians' speeches from the stage and watch political agitation in the sky.
For many years, the Ice Cream Festival has been associated with its initiator, the founder of the Labour Party, Uspaskich, who has returned to temporarily lead the political force. Although he is no longer the main shareholder of Vikonda Group, his former spouse, Jolanta Blažytė, holds this position.
The businesswoman has recently been recorded attending meetings to discuss the future of the Labour Party in the upcoming Seimas elections. Uspaskich himself has admitted that he offered her to take over the party's sinking helm, but she refused.
It is, therefore, not surprising that this event is always overshadowed by unauthorised political agitation. This is all the more so given that the Labour Party's ratings are at rock bottom, and attempts are being made to bring them back from the brink.
According to the latest Vilmorus ratings, only 2.8% of respondents would vote for the Labour Party if elections were held next Sunday, compared with 4.7% in March.
In the last few days, the Lithuanian pop stars invited to the event started withdrawing because of possible political connections: the singer Džordana Butkutė and the band Biplan decided not to perform at the Ice Cream Festival.
On his social media accounts, Uspaskich himself bragged about how he travelled to the festival, climbed on stage, spoke about the importance of family and peace, took photos with representatives of the Peace Coalition he had formed, and finally, during a drone show, used them to form the word, Peace.
„All things pass, and the wonderful Peace Festival ended with fireworks and a drone show. Pity those who were not lucky enough to participate“, Valdas Tutkus, one of the representatives of the Peace Coalition and former Commander of the Armed Forces, shared photos of the word Peace made of drones on his Facebook account.
Uspaskich was eager to speak on stage and posted numerous videos with excerpts from performers' performances on his Facebook account. One of them shows him addressing the audience.
„You're like bees, you know. You come to Kėdainiai, to the Ice Cream Festival, to collect all the nectar and flavour. And where do the flies go? Those who were afraid to come to this festival? Well, let them fly there,“ said Uspaskich.
From the stage, he told people to chant the words „love“, „children“, „parents“, and „peace“. He then urged people to put their hands in the air. Otherwise, he threatened to call off the helicopter with the ice cream chips.
The VRK has scrutinised the Ice Cream Festival, most recently in the 2020 election year. Back then, Uspaskich invited people to participate in the event on his Facebook account, and the VRK investigated this invitation for possible political advertising.
Uspaskich, who has returned to the Labour Party, will lead a coalition list of three political forces to the Seimas. Together with the Labour party, the Lithuanian Christian Democracy Party, led by MEP Mindaugas Puidokas, and the Samogitian Party, led by Irena Stražinskaitė-Glinskienė, will participate in the parliamentary elections.
The parties have taken the name Peace Coalition.
