Dalia Asanavičiūtė

Dalia Asanavičiūtė relocated from Lithuania to live in the United Kingdom in 2013 (approximately), as she noted in a 2020 interview that she had moved "seven years" prior.

In March 2025, at age 49, she married and adopted the surname Gružauskienė, and is now officially named Dalia Asanavičiūtė-Gružauskienė.

Dalia Asanavičiūtė was born on 5 September 1975 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

She has Tatar ancestry from her father’s side, and her surname is of Tatar origin.

Dalia Asanavičiūtė went through a divorce and raised her children as a single mother, which motivated her decision to leave Lithuania and settle in the UK for the sake of her family’s future.

She earned a Master’s degree in business management from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) in 2010, after previously studying management and business administration there.

In 1996, she completed a post-secondary program in garment construction at the Vilnius Higher School of Light Industry.

From 2013 to 2020, she worked in the United Kingdom’s food retail sector – for example, she led sales and marketing departments at Lituanica UK Ltd and Amber Food Plus Ltd, and served as branch manager of Dziugas UK Ltd.

From 2000 until 2012, she worked in Lithuania’s private sector: at Eurolines Baltic International (2000–2006) as a travel agent (later promoted to sales manager); at the Senukų prekybos centras retail company (2006–2007) as a sales project manager; at UAB MC Servise (2007–2009) as a project manager; and she also founded and ran her own sole proprietorship (2009–2012).

Dalia Asanavičiūtė has been a member of the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament) since 2020, serving in the 13th Seimas (2020–2024) and continuing in the 14th Seimas (2024–2028).

She is a member of the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrat (TS-LKD) political group in the Seimas.

On January 14, 2025, she became a member of the Freedom Prize Commission, which selects laureates for Lithuania’s Freedom Prize.

In the 14th Seimas, she is a member of the renewed Seimas and World Lithuanian Community Commission (diaspora affairs commission).

Since November 19, 2024, she has been a member of the Seimas Committee on Environmental Protection in the 14th Seimas.

During the 2020–2024 term (13th Seimas), she served as a member of the Seimas Committee on Education and Science and also the European Affairs Committee.

From 2020 to 2024, she was the Chair of the joint Commission of the Seimas and the World Lithuanian Community, which connects the Lithuanian Parliament with the global Lithuanian diaspora.

During the 2016–2020 parliamentary term, she also served as a member of the Seimas Petitions Commission, the Lituanistics Traditions and Heritage Commission, and the Seimas Commission for Ethics and Procedures.

In the October 2024 Seimas elections, Aušrinė Armonaitė again led in the first round for the diaspora constituency, but Asanavičiūtė rallied more support in the runoff. After all votes (including postal ballots) were counted, Asanavičiūtė was declared the winner with 11,901 votes (49.09%) against Armonaitė’s 11,178 votes (46.11%), securing her re-election.

She was first elected to the Seimas in October 2020 and re-elected in 2024, in both cases representing the single-member constituency for Lithuanians living abroad (Pasaulio lietuvių apygarda).

In the 2020 Seimas elections, Asanavičiūtė (TS-LKD) faced Aušrinė Armonaitė (Laisvės partija) in the newly established World Lithuanians single-member constituency. Asanavičiūtė won the seat in a runoff: in the first round she had placed second with 8,059 votes (25.65%) versus Armonaitė’s 10,811 votes (34.41%), but she overtook Armonaitė in the second round with just over half the vote. She again prevailed against Armonaitė in the 2024 election runoff to secure re-election as the diaspora representative.

In both the 2020 and 2024 elections, Asanavičiūtė was nominated by TS-LKD specifically for the diaspora (World Lithuanians) constituency. Although her name was also on the party’s national list of candidates, she secured her Seimas seat by winning the single-member overseas constituency rather than through the multi-member list.

The World Lithuanians single-member constituency (Pasaulio lietuvių apygarda) was introduced for the first time in the 2020 Seimas elections, and Asanavičiūtė became its inaugural elected representative.

In the TS-LKD’s final candidate list for the 2020 parliamentary elections, Asanavičiūtė was ranked 48th out of 141 candidates. Given that TS-LKD secured only about two dozen seats via the proportional list in 2020, her relatively low list position meant she would not have entered the Seimas without winning the World Lithuanians single-member constituency.

Her official asset declarations over the past several years show that she has had only moderate wealth, with no drastic unexplained changes. She has typically reported tens of thousands of euros in total assets (personal savings and property) and little or no liabilities, and any growth in her net worth has been gradual, in line with her parliamentary income.

As a member of the Seimas her salary rose to roughly €4,000 per month net (by 2024), whereas in the mid-2000s average pay in Lithuania was under €300 per month – meaning her earlier private-sector jobs likely paid only a few hundred euros monthly (estimated).

She moved to live in the United Kingdom around 2013 and immediately became active in the Lithuanian diaspora community there.

As of December 2024, she was appointed chair of the Seimas Interparliamentary Relations Group with the Republic of Ireland, and she also serves as a deputy chair of the interparliamentary group for relations with the United Kingdom.

In 2019–2020, she also served as a member of a national commission coordinating the fight against human trafficking.

Before entering parliament, she was a diaspora representative (alternate member) on the joint Seimas and World Lithuanian Community Commission from 2016 to 2020.

She was a member of the Lithuanian World Community (Pasaulio Lietuvių Bendruomenės, PLB) Sustainability and Development Commission in 2018–2020, and earlier a member of the PLB Economics Commission in 2015–2018.

She served as the chairperson of the Lithuanian community in the United Kingdom from 2014 to 2020, and was also a board member of that community organization.

Lithuania’s Central Electoral Commission (VRK) decided not to launch a formal investigation into the allegations regarding the diaspora constituency in 2024, stating that the situation had stabilized but that they would monitor it closely.

During the 2024 parliamentary elections, the Freedom Party accused the TS-LKD of organizing transportation for domestic voters to a polling station in Seinai, Poland, to vote for Dalia Asanavičiūtė. She denied any wrongdoing or voter manipulation.

In 2024, Lithuania’s Seimas Ethics and Procedures Commission concluded that four parliamentarians – including Dalia Asanavičiūtė – had misused funds meant for parliamentary expenses by spending them on personal needs (in her case, buying a cable and headset for about €22). The commission’s official findings did not list the MPs by name, and this information became public via media reports.

In 2024, Lithuania’s Seimas Ethics and Procedures Commission concluded that four parliamentarians – including Dalia Asanavičiūtė – had misused funds meant for parliamentary expenses by spending them on personal needs (in her case, buying a cable and headset for about €22). The commission’s official findings did not list the MPs by name, and this information became public via media reports.

On 2025-03-24, Asanavičiūtė (together with fellow TS-LKD politician Mindaugas Lingė) registered a draft amendment to the Law on Political Parties to penalize anti-state (pro-Kremlin) propaganda by political parties. The proposal would allow the state to suspend budget funding for any party that the electoral commission determines to have engaged in anti-Lithuanian, anti-democratic rhetoric.

On 2025-03-24, Asanavičiūtė (together with fellow TS-LKD politician Mindaugas Lingė) registered a draft amendment to the Law on Political Parties to penalize anti-state (pro-Kremlin) propaganda by political parties. The proposal would allow the state to suspend budget funding for any party that the electoral commission determines to have engaged in anti-Lithuanian, anti-democratic rhetoric (alkas.lt%20frakcijos%20nar%C4%97%20Dalia%20Asanavi%C4%8Di%C5%ABt%C4%97%20kartu%20su%20frakcijos%20seni%C5%ABnu%20Mindaugu%20Ling%C4%97%20registravo%20politin%C4%97s%20organizacij%C5%B3%20%C4%AFstatymo%20pataisas%2C%20kuriomis%20siekiama%20grie%C5%BEtinti%20politini%C5%B3%20partij%C5%B3%20atsakomyb%C4%99%20u%C5%BE%20antivalstybin%C4%99%20retorik%C4%85)).

On 2025-03-24, Asanavičiūtė (together with fellow TS-LKD politician Mindaugas Lingė) registered a draft amendment to the Law on Political Parties to penalize anti-state (pro-Kremlin) propaganda by political parties. The proposal would allow the state to suspend budget funding for any party that the electoral commission determines to have engaged in anti-Lithuanian, anti-democratic rhetoric.

On 2024-05-13, after a second referendum on dual citizenship failed to change the Constitution, Asanavičiūtė announced that she had submitted amendments to Lithuania’s Citizenship Law. Her draft proposal would allow citizens who left Lithuania after 1990 and naturalized in a NATO or EU country to retain their Lithuanian citizenship, and it would extend the deadline for declaring the acquisition of a new citizenship to the authorities.

She proposed that World Lithuanian Unity Day be officially included as part of the Song Festival, a major national cultural event in Lithuania.

She has been a vocal advocate for introducing internet voting for Lithuanians abroad. For instance, in January 2022 she publicly stated that the challenges of regulating internet voting must continue to be addressed.

She does not come from a wealthy family – in fact, she described herself as an “economic emigrant” who left Lithuania to seek a better life for her children. Following a divorce, Asanavičiūtė raised her two kids on her own, which prompted her move abroad, indicating that her family had no substantial financial cushion or business assets.

Besides her native Lithuanian, Dalia Asanavičiūtė speaks English and Russian.