Three Eastern Europeans run for Lincoln councillors

A Lithuanian woman and two Polish men will be running for City of Lincoln Council councillors positions in the upcoming local elections on May 22.

They are the first ever Eastern Europeans to run for election as Lincoln councillors.

The independent candidates running under the Lincoln Democracy banner are:

• Zivile Zuokiene, a married mum of two, who moved from Lithuania to Lincoln in 2004 and since worked with elderly and young adults with physical disabilities
• Krzysztof Lisiecki, a Polish businessman who moved to Lincolnshire in 2004 and now owns several international food supermarkets, currently employing 29 people
• Jacek Musialik, a Polish man who moved to Lincoln in 2004 and for the last five years has been working as a Citizens Advice Bureau adviser on legal matters

The campaign for the three candidates is run by Igor Kartel, a representative of the Eastern European community in Lincolnshire for the past few years.

Igor Kartel said: “Lincoln needs more councillors who are capable, vibrant, energetic and engaged, with a commitment to local people, local issues and a passion for change.

“We believe that Lincoln needs different kinds of people willing to stand for election so that parties and more importantly, the people or electorate, get a choice of quality candidates.”

Lincolnshire Eastern European community representative Igor Kartel briefly spoke at the anti-mosque protest in January 2014 but he was stopped by the East Anglian Patriots. Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

The most common country of origin of migrant workers travelling to Lincoln in 2012/13 was Poland with 229 people, followed by Lithuania with 180, Latvia with 136 and China with 69 people, according to DWP figures.

There were 7,163 migrant workers coming into the city of Lincoln alone since 2007, according to Lincolnshire Research Observatory data.

City of Lincoln Council data shows there are 64,000 people registered to vote in Lincoln, of which 2,600 are EU citizens. There are 4,841 people with EU passports in Lincoln.

The City Council currently has 25 Labour and eight Conservative councillors. Each year a third of councillor roles are up for elections, with a break for County Council elections every fourth year.

In some wards, candidates need fewer than 800 votes to win the elections. The Eastern European candidates have not said yet in which of the city’s 11 wards they will be running.

Here are the videos the three Eastern European candidates produced:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQUSCwkIogQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgBqOctQ5nw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_4mOBU3zj4