Lithuanian State President Dalia Grybauskaitė said last week, that she supports the idea of having direct mayor election by 2011. After this interview the official debate is growing rapidly. The mass media reports almost every day about the willingness of citizens to elect their mayors directly and about the challenge towards the Parliament to implement the needed legal framework. If the parliament will succeed to implement the direct mayor election, what consequences it will have for citizens and the whole civil society?
In the context of long lasting official debate on mayor election we will discuss on Wednesday, the 3rd of March, the topic “Will the direct mayor election strengthen Lithuanian democracy?” Together with our panelists we will debate about the needed legal framework for direct mayor election as well as possible election scenarios for 2011.
Speakers:

• Challenges of direct mayor election?
Dr. Dr. Antanas KULAKAUSKAS, Head of Department for Political Science, Mykolas Romeris University

• Political basis for direct mayor election
Mr. Sigutis OBELEVIČIUS, Mayor of Anykščiai district

• Direct mayor election is inevitable: which scenario will we choose?
Dr. Kęstutis MASIULIS, MP, Member of the Committee on State Security and Defense, Seimas of Republic of Lithuania