Leader Egidijus Skarbalius Political position Centre-right | Headquarters Zarasų g. 12, Klaipėda | |
Founded February 13, 2009 (2009-02-13) Membership 1,100 members, according to party sources Ideology Regionalism
Samogitian minority interests | ||
The Samogitian Party (Lithuanian: Žemaičių partija, Samogitian: Žemaitiu partėjė or Samogitian: Žemaitiu šalėnė) is an ethnic-regionalist autonomist party of the Lithuania's Samogitian minority founded in April 2008.
Contents
Creation
In 2008, the Ministry of Justice refused to register the party claiming that there were not enough participants at its inaugural meeting, but also that the programme failed to explicitly recognize the State of Lithuania's territorial integrity and indivisibility and the fact that the Lithuanian language is the national language. The Ministry finally registered the party in February 2009, a recognition that was indispensable for taking part to any election.
Aims
The Samogitian Party wants Samogitia to become an area where the Samogitian language would have official status and where Samogitians would have the right to declare their ethnic nationality.
Membership and party structure
The party has 1,100 members, according to party sources. Several local branches of the party have been established, including one in London, created in May 2009.
Electoral results
The Samogitian Party took part at the 2009 European Parliament election and received 6,961 votes (1.23% of the total). It got more than 4% of the votes (the electoral threshold for the municipal elections) in the four districts of the Telšiai County, in the Mažeikiai district municipality (544 votes, 6,27%), in the Rietavas municipality (95 votes, 5,04%), in the Plungė district municipality (356 votes, 5,76%) and in the Telšiai district municipality (501 votes, 5,84%), and in three districts (out of seven) of the Klaipėda County, i.e. the Kretinga district municipality (373 votes, 5,67%), in the Skuodas district municipality (253 votes, 6,84%) and the Klaipėda district municipality (341 votes, 4,49%).
Political context
The respondents in the various censuses do not have the option to choose for the Samogitian ethnicity, a situation similar to the Polish Kashubians and Silesians. This had already been contested before courts by the Žemaitē bova, īr ė būs ("Samogitians were, are and will be") Association, also named Žemaitiu soeiga, which considers that it is a violation of the Constitution, more particularly of the provision that everyone has the right to decide on his nationality. According to Egidijus Skarbalius, the founder of the Samogitian Party, Samogitians could be as many as one million, thus representing a third of Lithuania's total population.
By the end of 2008, the Council of Skuodas district municipality had decided to act by a fait accompli, and decided that all its meetings will be held in Samogitian language. Lithuanian councilmen will enjoy the use of interpreters as for them this language is completely incomprehensible.