Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen

Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen was born on 6 August 1983 in Šiauliai, Lithuania.

She is fluent in Lithuanian (native), English, Russian, and Spanish.

Čmilytė-Nielsen is a mother of four sons.

Since 2016, she has been enrolled in the Master’s program in Diplomacy at Vytautas Magnus University (Political Science and Diplomacy faculty).

As of 2025, Čmilytė-Nielsen has not completed the Master’s program in Diplomacy at Vytautas Magnus University which she began in 2016.

She earned a Bachelor’s degree in English Philology from the University of Latvia in 2007.

In 2001, she graduated from Šiaulių Didždvario Gymnasium (high school).

Čmilytė-Nielsen was crowned European Women’s Chess Champion in 2011.

She achieved a bronze-medal result at the Women’s World Chess Championship in 2006.

Čmilytė-Nielsen was a professional chess player from 2001 to 2015 and a long-time member of the Lithuanian national chess team.

She won gold medal awards at the World Chess Olympiads in 2000 and 2004.

She was re-elected to the Seimas in 2024, again representing the Senamiesčio–Žvėrynas constituency.

Since 14 November 2024, she has been serving as a Deputy Speaker of the Seimas.

She has been re-elected as Liberal Movement party leader multiple times, including winning a fourth term in 2023.

In the 2020 parliamentary elections, Čmilytė-Nielsen won the Senamiesčio–Žvėrynas (No. 1) single-member constituency in Vilnius and served in the 2020–2024 Seimas term.

On 13 November 2020, she was elected Speaker of the Seimas with 106 members of parliament voting in favor (18 against, 5 abstentions).

She became head (seniūnė) of the Liberal Movement’s parliamentary faction in 2018 and continues to hold that position.

Čmilytė-Nielsen has been a member of the Liberal Movement (Liberalų sąjūdis) since 2015.

In the 2019–2020 period, she was a member of the Seimas Education and Science Committee.

From 2017 to 2019 she was a member of the Commission for Persons with Disabilities’ Rights in the Seimas.

She was a member of the Seimas Ethics and Procedures Commission throughout 2016–2020.

From 2016 to 2019, Čmilytė-Nielsen served as a member of the Human Rights Committee of the Seimas.

She was also a member of the European Affairs Committee in the Seimas from 2016 to 2019.

She was again victorious in the same Senamiesčio–Žvėrynas constituency in the 2024 parliamentary elections, securing another term in the Seimas.

In 2024, Čmilytė-Nielsen was once again re-elected from the Senamiesčio–Žvėrynas single-member constituency. Under her leadership, the Liberal Movement won 12 seats in the 2024 Seimas elections.

In the October 2020 parliamentary elections, she was elected from the Senamiesčio–Žvėrynas single-mandate constituency (Vilnius No. 1).

In the 2020 parliamentary elections, as the leading candidate of the Liberal Movement’s list, Čmilytė-Nielsen helped secure 6 seats for the party in the multi-member constituency. She also won the Vilnius Senamiesčio–Žvėrynas single-member district, receiving 53.90% of the vote in the runoff against Mykolas Majauskas.

Čmilytė-Nielsen changed her electoral district between elections: in 2016 she ran in the Šiauliai “Aušros” constituency but did not win there (she entered the Seimas via the party list instead), whereas in 2020 she switched to Vilnius’s Senamiesčio–Žvėrynas constituency and won that single-member seat.

In the 2016 Seimas elections, Čmilytė-Nielsen was listed among the top Liberal Movement candidates (she was 4th on the party’s list). The Liberal Movement won a total of 14 seats (8 via the multi-member constituency and 6 in single-member districts), and Čmilytė-Nielsen obtained a mandate through the multi-member list (she had also run in the Aušros single-member district without success).

In the 2016 parliamentary elections, Čmilytė-Nielsen ran as the Liberal Movement’s candidate in the Šiauliai “Aušros” single-member constituency, but did not win that seat. Instead, she entered the Seimas via the party’s multi-member list, where she was ranked 4th among Liberal Movement candidates and secured a mandate as the party won 8 list seats (14 seats in total with single-mandate wins).

In her 2023 asset declaration (filed in 2024), Čmilytė-Nielsen and her husband declared roughly €1.029 million in total assets and about €67,000 in liabilities. The bulk of their wealth – approximately €711,000 – was held as cash or securities, and their net worth increased by only about €3,000 compared to the previous year.

In her 2022 asset declaration (filed in 2023), Čmilytė-Nielsen declared owning an apartment valued at €152,200 and a house valued at €59,200, as well as a personal car worth about €23,000. She reported having around €86,000 in Lithuanian bank accounts plus €3,800 in foreign banks, and about €21,000 in outstanding debt.

For the 2022 tax year, Čmilytė-Nielsen and her husband together declared total assets of approximately €1,028,000, with about €46,000 in funds lent out and roughly €21,000 in debts owed by them.

As the Speaker of the Seimas (2020–2024), Čmilytė-Nielsen had one of the highest official salaries in Lithuania – approximately €5200 per month net (after taxes), which corresponds to roughly €7000 gross.

In 2018, the Seimas Speaker’s official gross monthly salary was €3418, while a Deputy Speaker’s was €2968 (based on their respective pay grade coefficients). By late 2024, this implies Čmilytė-Nielsen’s salary as Deputy Speaker is around €4500 per month net (estimated), compared to roughly €5200 net during her tenure as Speaker.

By 2024, an ordinary Seimas member’s base monthly salary had increased to about €3800 "į rankas" (net, post-tax) – up from roughly €2100 net per month in the mid-2010s.

In 2024, Čmilytė-Nielsen’s asset declarations drew public scrutiny regarding potential undervaluation. MP Matas Maldeikis pointed out that she declared a house in Šiauliai, a three-room apartment in central Šiauliai, and a two-room apartment in Palanga for a combined value of just €235,000. Čmilytė-Nielsen responded that she uses official Registry Center valuations for her properties, implying that the declaration rules – not any intent on her part – led to the low stated values.

In December 2023, after a court convicted the Liberal Movement in the MG Group political corruption case, opposition politicians urged Čmilytė-Nielsen to resign as Speaker, but she asserted she could continue leading both the parliament and her party.

Her father, Viktoras Čmilis, was identified as a KGB reserve officer during the Soviet era, a fact that became public in 2020 but did not hinder Čmilytė-Nielsen’s political career.

For her support of Ukraine, Čmilytė-Nielsen was honored with Ukraine’s Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (2nd Class) in late 2022, presented by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In 2011, she received the Order "For Merits to Lithuania", Officer’s Cross.

She was named an Honorary Citizen of the city of Šiauliai in 2011.

She was awarded the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas, 5th Class (Knight’s Cross) in 1996.

In May 2021, as Speaker of the Seimas, Čmilytė-Nielsen introduced a draft law to legalize civil partnerships in Lithuania for both different-sex and same-sex couples.

Čmilytė-Nielsen is the author of an autobiography titled "Tarp juoda ir balta" (Between Black and White), published in 2018.