Artūras Zuokas (born February 21, 1968 in Kaunas) is a Lithuanian politician. He is former leader of the Liberal and Centre Union political party and the Mayor of Vilnius city municipality from 2000-2007 and from April 2011 onward. He was a member of the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament).
Zuokas graduated from the secondary school of Jonava. In his youth Zuokas worked as an independent reporter to Independent Television News Ltd.: a war reporter in Iraq (First Gulf War, during which he taped the bombing of the Baghdad TV Tower, a footage that was shown all over the world), Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ossetia. In August 1991 he brought a recently captured footage from the site of the Medininkai Massacre to the official meeting of the United States President George Bush and Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow, which caused much concern from the American side about the use of force against freedom-seeking nations.[1]
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Zuokas was one of the campaign managers for Liberal Union of Lithuania in the 2000 Seimas elections. His party placed second and won 36 seats. It formed an alliance with the New Union (Socialliberals) and Rolandas Paksas, the leader of the Liberal Union and Vilnius city municipality mayor, became the Prime Minister. There were two candidates to fill in the vacant mayor post: vice-mayor Algirdas Kudzys, and Zuokas, both members of the Liberal Union. On November 15, 2000, the council voted 27-18 to make Zuokas, at age 32, the youngest mayor in the history of Vilnius.
A number of projects championed by Zuokas have since been completed:
In Spring 2001, Vilnius city municipality unveiled a new internet portal vilnius.lt.
Zuokas is the recipient of numerous international and national awards and honors. He was decorated by President Jacques Chirac of France in 2001 with the National Order of Merit and President Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia for his contribution to the betterment of bi-lateral relations. He was twice elected Vice-President of the Organization of World Heritage Cities. The Junior Chamber International recognized Zuokas for his administrative achievements by naming him one of the "Ten Outstanding Young Persons in the World" in 2002. The U.S. Baltic Foundation honored his achievements in 2003 and the Balzekas Museum in Chicago, Illinois named him "Man of the Year". Local awards have included "Friend of Architects". He is a three-time recipient of the popular Vilnius "Iron Wolf" award. Zuokas was bestowed an honorary degree from the Gediminas Technical University in 2003.[3]
Zuokas was a member of the Committee on State Administration and Local Authorities from 8/01/2009 until 11/30/2009 and the Anticorruption Commission from 12/02/2008 until 11/30/2009. He was also a member of the Commission of the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania and the Lithuanian World Community from 12/22/2008 until 11/30/2009. Zuokas was the head of the Liberal and Center Union party from 11/18/2008 until 12/31/2008. In the Lithuanian parliamentary election, 2008, his Liberal and Center Union party won 8 seats. The party joined the ruling coalition led by Andrius Kubilius and was given the Health and Interior Minister positions.
In 2010, March, Zuokas expressed willingness to become a mayor of Kaunas, the second largest city of Lithuania, but only if Lithuania would introduce direct elections.
After a successful 2011 municipal election campaign in February, Zuokas became Mayor of Vilnius once again, as his party won the most votes and gained 12 seats in the 51-seat Vilnius city council.
Zuokas was found guilty in electoral fraud during the 2003 municipal election but later pardoned in perplexing circumstances. [4] A parliamentary commission also concluded that he could have been the "subscriber" in a large bribery scandal.[5]
In August 2011 he raised attention to illegal parking in bike lanes by staging the destruction of a car by a BTR-60 armoured personnel carrier in a Vilnius' bike lane running along the Gediminas Avenue.[6] Later that year he was awarded an Ig Nobel Peace Prize for "demonstrating that the problem of illegally parked luxury cars can be solved by running over them with a tank".[7][8]