Vytautas Grubliauskas

Vytautas Grubliauskas was born on 1 December 1956 in Klaipėda, Lithuania.

He is a Lithuanian politician and a jazz musician, known by the nickname "Kongas".

In 1980, he graduated from the Lithuanian State Conservatory (now the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre) in Klaipėda, qualifying as an estrad orchestra leader and soloist.

From 1963 to 1975, he attended Klaipėda’s Fourth Secondary School, during which he sang for seven years in the “Gintarėlis” boys’ choir and also studied at Klaipėda’s Second Children’s Music School.

From 1997 to 2004 he headed the Jazz Music Department at Klaipėda University and held the academic title of docentas (associate professor).

He was the director and organizer of the Klaipėda Castle Jazz Festival from 1994 to 2004.

He was a lecturer (later senior lecturer) at the Conservatory’s Klaipėda estrad music department from 1987 to 1997.

For almost two decades (1984–2003), he was a soloist in Klaipėda’s professional wind orchestra “Bangpūtys,” which later became the Lithuanian Naval Force Orchestra.

From 1984 to 1987 he worked as a concertmaster and soloist in the Estrad Music Department of the Conservatory’s Klaipėda Faculty.

From 1982 to 1984 he performed as a trumpet soloist in the Lithuanian State Philharmonic ensemble "Nerija".

From 1980 to 1982, he served in the Soviet Army’s Baltic Military District staff orchestra in Riga (Latvia), where he was a trumpet soloist and concertmaster.

Grubliauskas returned to the Seimas in 2024 (2024–2028 term) and took office on 14 November 2024, elected from the Baltic constituency as an LSDP candidate.

After his mayoral tenure, he served as a Klaipėda City Council member in 2023–2024 and chaired the council’s Culture, Education and Sports Committee.

He has served as the first deputy chairman of the LSDP’s Klaipėda city branch.

He became a member of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) in late 2022.

He won a third term as Klaipėda’s mayor in the March 2019 municipal elections, after forming an independent electoral committee.

Ahead of the 2019 elections, he left the Liberal Movement and formed a civic electoral committee called “Vytautas Grubliauskas and Team”.

He was re-elected as Mayor of Klaipėda in 2015 during Lithuania’s first direct mayoral elections, running as the Liberal Movement’s candidate.

On 12 April 2011, Grubliauskas was elected Mayor of Klaipėda by the city council, becoming the seventh post-independence mayor of the city.

He was re-elected to the Seimas for a second term (2008–2012), serving until 2011 when he left to become mayor.

He was a member of the Liberal Movement (Liberalų Sąjūdis) from 2006 until November 2018.

He served as a member of the Seimas (Parliament of Lithuania) during the 2004–2008 parliamentary term.

In 2001, he ran as a candidate for Mayor of Klaipėda, but was not elected due to an insufficient number of votes.

He was a member of the Liberal and Centre Union (LCS) from 2000 until 2006.

In 2000, he was elected to the Klaipėda City Municipal Council, where he served as a member and later as chairman of the council’s Social Affairs Committee.

As of October 2025, he became a member of the Seimas Culture Committee.

He is a member of the Seimas Maritime Affairs Commission.

He served as a member of the Seimas State Administration and Local Authorities Committee from 19 Nov 2024 until 7 Oct 2025.

He was elected as Chairman of the Seimas Committee for the Future on 20 November 2024 (start of the 2024–2028 term).

During his earlier tenure in Parliament, he served on the Seimas Information Society Development Committee (2004–2011) and was its chairman in 2008–2011.

He also served as a member of the Seimas Youth and Sports Affairs Commission during his time as an MP.

In the 2024 Seimas election, he won the Baltic single-member constituency in Klaipėda. In a tightly contested runoff, Grubliauskas defeated Lina Šukytė-Korsakė (of the "Nemuno aušra" party), securing 50.26% of the vote (to Šukytė-Korsakė’s 43.71%).

In the first round of the 2024 Seimas elections (Baltic single-member constituency in Klaipėda), Grubliauskas finished second by a very narrow margin – he received 16.7% of the vote versus 17.1% for the leading candidate Lina Šukytė-Korsakė. In the runoff, Grubliauskas prevailed to win the seat, returning to the Parliament.

The Social Democratic Party placed Grubliauskas 12th on its nationwide candidate list for the 2024 Seimas elections – making him one of the highest-ranked non-incumbents on the LSDP list.

He was a candidate in the 2024 European Parliament elections on the LSDP list. While campaigning, the former mayor emphasized his extensive experience as a Seimas member, city leader, and member of the EU Committee of the Regions – arguing that this background would help him represent not just Klaipėda but all of Lithuania in Brussels. (Ultimately, he did not win an EP seat.)

In the 2023 Klaipėda mayoral election, Grubliauskas (running as the Social Democratic candidate) finished in fifth place, receiving only 7.54% of the vote.

In the March 2019 mayoral runoff in Klaipėda, Grubliauskas secured a third term by obtaining 25,015 votes (55.28% of valid ballots) against challenger Arvydas Vaitkus, who received 20,237 votes (44.72%).

In the 2015 direct mayoral election in Klaipėda, he defeated Conservative MP Agnė Bilotaitė in the run-off, securing a second term as mayor. Unofficial results showed Grubliauskas winning about 74% of the vote to Bilotaitė’s roughly 24%.

In the 2004 Lithuanian parliamentary elections, Grubliauskas was elected to the Seimas from Klaipėda’s Danė single-member constituency. Running as a Liberal and Centre Union candidate, he won the run-off with 8,288 votes (50.79% of the vote).

By 2019, the Grubliauskas family’s declared wealth remained around €290,000 (down by about €1,000 from the previous year). His 2019 declaration listed approximately €85,438 in real estate under his name, over €100,000 in real estate under his wife’s name, around €98,123 in combined savings, and an outstanding loan of €90,462.

As Mayor of Klaipėda (2011–2019), his official salary nearly doubled after 2015 due to a legal reform – previously around €1,600 gross per month, it rose to approximately €2,100–€2,500 (gross) per month, making it comparable to a Seimas member’s pay.

In 2015, he was reported as the most indebted Klaipėda city politician, with an outstanding mortgage of nearly €110,000 (which was about €9,236 less than the year before).

According to his 2015 asset declaration, he and his wife declared a total of €288,923 in assets that year – roughly €115,857 was in his name (registrable assets and cash) and about €173,066 in his spouse’s name.

In 2015, his declared assets grew by roughly €13,097 compared to the previous year. This made him one of the city’s fastest-growing in wealth on paper, and local media noted that it was unclear how he gained that much in a year (he was abroad and unavailable to comment when asked).

Upon becoming Mayor in 2011, he looked to buy a house in Klaipėda (having lived in a village before). His VRK-declared assets then were only 67,500 LTL plus 62,600 LTL in savings, so he took out a bank loan covering 80% of the home’s price – about half a million litai (≈€145,000).

In a 2005 interview, he quipped that he did not marry his second wife Inga just for her looks – noting she had a financial “dowry” that they split evenly. At the time, his liabilities (including a 150,000 LTL home loan and a car on lease) roughly matched or exceeded his own assets, so his wife’s contribution improved their household’s net worth.

During his time as a Seimas member in the mid-2000s, Grubliauskas acknowledged that he supplemented his MP salary by performing as a musician in his free time – earning additional income through concerts under author contracts.

In 2015, he was appointed as a member of the European Union’s Committee of the Regions representing Lithuania’s local authorities.

During his tenure as a Member of the Seimas, he also served as a Deputy Chair of the Seimas inter-parliamentary relations group with the United States.

In 1996 he founded the Klaipėda Jazz Club and served as its president until 2004.

In mid-2025, the Chief Official Ethics Commission investigated a complaint about his involvement in organizing the Klaipėda Jazz Festival and found that he had not contributed to the festival’s organization or promotion.

He received Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun (Gold Rays with Rosette), which was formally presented to him on 30 January 2019.

In July 2017, France awarded him the rank of Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters for his contributions to cultural cooperation.

On 14 October 2015, he was awarded the Royal Order of the Polar Star (Commander Grade) by the Kingdom of Sweden.

In 2005, he received the honorary title of "Klaipėda Culture Magister" (Master of Culture of Klaipėda).

In 1997, he was voted the most popular culture and art personality in Klaipėda city.

In 1995, he was recognized as the best trumpeter in Eastern Europe by several concert agencies in Germany.

At the 1983 “Baltic Youth ’83” festival (Lithuanian: “Baltijos jaunystė – 83”), he was recognized as the best instrumentalist of the event.

In 1980, he performed with the Conservatory’s big band at the “Liepājas Dzintars – 80” festival in Latvia, where they were recognized as laureates of the festival.

He is married to Inga Grubliauskienė and together they have two children: a daughter Elzė (born 2004) and a son Vytautas (born 2009).

In total, he has five children: besides the two with Inga, he has a daughter Agnė from his first marriage and two stepchildren – Saulė and Žilvinas – from Inga’s first marriage.