Artūras Zuokas
| Artūras Zuokas | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Mayor of Vilnius | |
|
In office 2011 – 20 April 2015 |
|
| Preceded by | Raimundas Alekna |
| Succeeded by | Remigijus Šimašius |
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In office 2000–2007 |
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| Preceded by | Gediminas Paviržis |
| Succeeded by | Juozas Imbrasas |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
21 February 1968 Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Nationality | Lithuanian |
| Political party | Lithuanian Freedom Union (Liberals) |
Artūras Zuokas (born 21 February 1968 in Kaunas) is a Lithuanian politician. He is the Chairman of the political party Lithuanian Freedom Union. He was the Mayor of Vilnius from 2000 to 2007 and again from 2011 to 2015. From 2008 to 2009 he was a member of the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament).
Zuokas graduated from the secondary school in Jonava. He then worked as an independent reporter for Independent Television News as a war reporter in Iraq, where he taped the bombing of the Baghdad TV Tower during the First Gulf War. In August 1991, he brought recently captured footage from the site of the Medininkai Massacre to the official meeting between the president of the United States George Bush and Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow, which caused concern from the American side about the use of force against freedom-seeking nations.
Zuokas was one of the campaign managers for the Liberal Union of Lithuania in the 2000 Seimas elections. His party placed second, winning 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 from the Liberal Union for the vacant mayor's post: vice-mayor Algirdas Kudzys, and Zuokas. On 15 November 2000, the council voted 27–18 to make Zuokas, aged 32, the youngest mayor in the history of Vilnius.
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