Editing Order and Justice (section)

===Early years (2002–2004)===
After being defeated in the leadership election for the [[Liberal Union of Lithuania|Liberal Union]], [[Rolandas Paksas]] founded the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 2002, taking with him 13 of his supporters from Liberal parliamentary group in the Seimas, making the party the fourth-largest party.<ref name="Algis Krupavicius 2003"/> Nationally, founders of the new party were not only Liberal Union's members. It attracted members of [[Lithuanian Centre Union]] (e. g. [[Kęstutis Trečiokas]]) and [[New Union (Social Liberals)]].

Paksas finished second in the first round of the [[Lithuanian presidential election, 2002–2003|presidential election]] on 22 December, with 19.7%: qualifying him for a run-off against [[incumbent]] [[President of Lithuania|President]] [[Valdas Adamkus]].<ref name="Algis Krupavicius 2003"/> For the run-off, Paksas represented a youthful alternative to the ageing candidate, adopting the slogan 'Vote for Change';<ref name="Algis Krupavicius 2004">{{cite journal |last=Krupavicius |first=Algis |date=December 2004 |title=Lithuania |journal=[[European Journal of Political Research]] |volume=43 |issue=7–8 |pages=1059–69 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-6765.2004.00201.x }}</ref> despite all the parties except the LDP backing Adamkus, he won across almost all of the country, with 54.7%.<ref name="Algis Krupavicius 2003"/>  The campaign was likened to the previous spring's [[2002 French presidential election|French presidential election]] and Paksas to [[Jean-Marie Le Pen]] for his [[populism]].<ref name="Algis Krupavicius 2003" /> However, unlike Le Pen, the Paksas immediately announced his support for Lithuania's ongoing process of accession to the [[European Union]] and [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|NATO]].<ref name="Algis Krupavicius 2003" />

In June, 2003, Paksas set about fighting [[political corruption]] that saw 700 public officials under the old administration acquire land illegally.<ref name="Algis Krupavicius 2004"/> However, this was soon overshadowed by revelations in October that Paksas gave [[citizenship]] to, and heard requests for political favours from, [[Yury Borisov]], a [[Russia]]n businessman that had donated $400,000 to Paksas's campaign, and that high-ranking members of Paksas's staff had connections to Russian criminal groups.<ref name="Algis Krupavicius 2004" />  Although Paksas was found not to have been influenced by the criminals, his staff had been; Paksas offered that his six close advisers named in the report resign, but calls for Paksas himself to resign mounted.<ref name="Algis Krupavicius 2004" />

Paksas alleged that the parliamentary commission set up to investigate the claims was set up for political reasons, and refused to cooperate.<ref name="Algis Krupavicius 2004" /> In response, the four other parties ([[Social Democratic Party of Lithuania]], [[New Union (Social Liberals)]], [[Liberal and Centre Union]] and [[Homeland Union]]) initiated [[impeachment]] proceedings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www3.lrs.lt/posedziai/4/bals_13155_2.htm|title=Balsavimo rezultatai}}</ref> In December, the [[Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania|Constitutional Court]] ruled that granting citizenship to Borisovas was illegal and impeachable.<ref name="Algis Krupavicius 2004" /> Despite this, Paksas remained popular with the public.<ref name="Algis Krupavicius 2004" /> On 6 April 2004, the Seimas voted to impeach him and remove him from office on three counts with 86, 86, and 89 MPs voting to impeach, with 85 required.<ref name="Algis Krupavicius 2005">{{cite journal |last=Krupavicius |first=Algis |date=December 2005 |title=Lithuania |journal=[[European Journal of Political Research]] |volume=44 |issue=7–8 |pages=1086–101 |doi= 10.1111/j.1475-6765.2005.00273.x}}</ref> Nonetheless, after his impeachment, he was tried in the criminal courts, and acquitted on all charges.<ref name="Algis Krupavicius 2005" /> The Constitutional Court found that Paksas shall be precluded for life from being elected as president, as a member of the Seimas and some other high-ranking official positions. Paksas complained against the lifetime duration of the impeachment and filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg). In January 2011 the Court rendered his judgement in favor of Paksas. In spite of the Conventual obligation to fulfill Judgements of the Court and in spite of enforcement proceedings by the Council of Europe the Judgement of the European Court of Human Rights has not been fulfilled. In 2012 Paksas complained to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. In March 2014 the Committee found that the lifelong disqualification from political office violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As of 2018 the violations of Human Rights as found by the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Committee on Human Rights still persist.