Country: | Lithuania |
People and Justice Union (Centrists, Nationalists) | |
Native Name: | Tautos ir teisingumo sąjunga (centristai, tautininkai) |
Headquarters: | Kaštonų g. 3, Vilnius, Lithuania |
Abbreviation: | TTS |
Leader1 Title: | Chairman |
Leader1 Name: | Petras Gražulis |
Leader2 Title: | Vice Chairpeople |
Leader2 Name: | Naglis Puteikis Ramojus Girinskas |
Leader3 Title: | Chairman of the Political Council |
Leader3 Name: | Kristupas Krivickas |
Leader4 Title: | Chairwoman of the Board |
Leader4 Name: | Rūta Zabielienė |
Leader5 Title: | Executive Secretary |
Leader5 Name: | Aurelija Aleškevičienė |
Predecessor: | Lithuanian Centre Union |
Europarl: | Europe of Sovereign Nations |
Position: | Right-wing[1] |
Membership: | 3,977 (2 October 2019) [2] |
Colours: | Yellow, green, red |
Seats1 Title: | Seimas |
Seats2 Title: | European Parliament |
Seats3 Title: | Municipal councils |
Seats4 Title: | Mayors |
The People and Justice Union (Centrists, Nationalists) (Lithuanian: Tautos ir teisingumo sąjunga (centristai, tautininkai)) is a right-wing populist political party in Lithuania. It is currently not represented in the Seimas. The chairman of the party is Petras Gražulis.[3] Petras Gražulis was impeached from Lithuanian parliament and is not allowed, as of 2024, to participate in any national elections.
The party was established as the National Centre Party (Lithuanian: Nacionalinė centro partija), before being renamed the Lithuanian Centre Party (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Centro partija) in 2005.
In the parliamentary election of 2016, the Lithuanian Centre Party participated in a coalition (Anti-corruption coalition of Kristupas Krivickas and Naglis Puteikis) with the Lithuanian Pensioners' Party, and received 6.1% of the popular vote and one seat.[4] In the 2019 Lithuanian municipal elections, the Centre Party received 1.25% of votes nationwide and won municipal council seats in Klaipeda, Varena and Alytus (increasing the number of seats from 3 to 8).[5] During the 2019 election to the European Parliament the party received 5.13% of the national vote, but did not receive any representatives in the European Parliament. On 26 October 2019, the Congress of the Lithuanian Centre Party decided to change the official name of the party to the Centre Party "Welfare Lithuania". The party fully supports the welfare state idea of the President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda. In 2020, the party's name was changed again, this time to the Centre Party – Nationalists. In 2021 it merged with the Lithuanian Nationalist and Republican Union to become the People and Justice Union.
The party nominated Petras Gražulis in the 2024 Lithuanian presidential election, but his candidacy was rejected due to a prior impeachment.[6] [7]
The party operates an unofficial "Headquarter for the Reelection of Donald Trump in Lithuania", created in cooperation with members of the Lithuanian-American community. The party's chairman Gražulis is also the chairman of the headquarters.[8]
According to the party's platform, the People and Justice Union
It defines itself as centre. It has also been described as right-wing.[9] [10] It is populist and claims that the state is under the control of an oligarchic clan, opposes LGBT rights, supports small and medium business and the creation of a national commercial bank.[11] It is soft Eurosceptic, demands the supremacy of national law over European law and describes the current system in the European Union as "a dictatorship of political correctness".[12]