Lithuanian president impeachment vote likely in April: deputy speaker

A vote on whether to impeach Lithuanian President Rolandas Paksas will be held in early April at the soonest and might drag on after the Baltic state joins the European Union on May 1, a senior parliamentarian said Monday.

"There is almost no chance of impeachment being over before April," deputy parliament speaker Ceslovas Jursenas told AFP.

A special panel began preparing the ground for impeaching Paksas after parliament adopted a report saying that crime links at his office made him a threat to national security.

The panel is to recommend to parliament by February 13 whether to vote on ousting Paksas, but Jursenas said the constitutional court would have to issue a ruling before a vote was held.

He said this could take from four weeks to two months, depending on how many of the six counts of violating the constitution the panel said Paksas was guilty of.

"Then the impeachment vote itself could take from one to two weeks, so there is almost no chance that impeachment is over before April," he said.

Paksas, a former stunt pilot, won an unexpected victory on January 5, 2003, over his predecessor Valdas Adamkus, a 77-year-old US emigre, who was supported by the majority of Lithuania's political establishment.

He has consistently denied any wrongdoing and insisted he will not resign, despite repeated calls to do so from top political and church leaders, including Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas.

If Paksas is impeached, parliamentary speaker Arturas Paulauskas, his main political rival, will step into the president's shoes for two months, during which time new elections would be held.