President
Rolandas Paksas was
dismissed by the Lithuanian parliament, or Seimas earlier today.
Paksas, who was twice prime minister and also the mayor of the capital Vilnius, was, according to the various articles I've looked at, a flamboyant populist and stunt pilot who remains very popular -- and might even run again in the future. He was impeached for his connections to Russian mob figures and it is hard to know whether this move is connected more to anti-corruption or anti-Russian sentiments among his opponents. This, of course, makes it hard to know whether this is a step forward for Lithuanian democracy (just days after it joins NATO) or a political squabble a la l'affaire Lewinsky. (The prime minister, a political opponent, takes his place as acting president.) From what I've read so far it seems more likely the former. Paksas has an eclectic political ideology, if it even can be called that, including the death penalty for drug traffickers and transition to free market but also measures of social insurance that harkened back to Soviet style welfare; he has been acting extremely erratic and even named the most notorious of his Russian connections as a special adviser in recent days.
I'll keep my eye out for more "expert" analyses as they appear ...