Antanas Čepononis

Antanas Čepononis was born on 5 November 1959 in Mikyčiai village, Lazdijai District, Lithuania.

He speaks Russian and German.

He earned a Master’s degree in educology from Vilnius Pedagogical University in 2003.

In 1982 he graduated from Vilnius Pedagogical University as a qualified teacher.

In 1978 he graduated from Šventežeris Secondary School.

From 2013 to 2015, he served as the head of a division at UAB “Radviliškio šiluma.”

He worked as a specialist at the private company UAB “Radviliškio šiluma” from 2012 to 2013.

He headed the Education Unit of the Radviliškis District Municipality Administration from 1995 to 2003.

From 1982 to 1990, he was the director of Alksniupių Secondary School.

He has continued to serve as a Seimas member since his re-election in 2024.

He served as a Member of the Seimas (Parliament) from 13 November 2020 until 14 November 2024.

He served as Deputy Chair of the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrat (TS-LKD) Political Group in the Seimas from December 2020 until November 2024.

In September 2019, he was elected Deputy Chairman of the Šiauliai Regional Development Council.

He again served as Radviliškis District Mayor from 2015 to 2020.

He has been a member of the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrat party (TS-LKD) since 2008.

He was the Mayor of Radviliškis District Municipality from 2003 until 2011.

He joined the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party (LKD) in 1992.

He served as Mayor of Radviliškis City Municipality from 1990 to 1995.

He served as the chairman of the TS-LKD party’s Radviliškis district branch.

He has been a member of the TS-LKD party’s Council and Presidium, which are its national governing bodies.

He served as a member of the Seimas Committee on Budget and Finance during 2020–2024.

In the 2024 Seimas elections, Čepononis again contested the Radviliškio–Tytuvėnų single-member district. He finished second in the first round with 2,777 votes (17.82%) and lost the runoff on 27 October with about 29.8% of the vote. However, because he was 29th on the TS-LKD national party list, he secured re-election to Parliament via a proportional representation seat.

In the 2020 Seimas elections, Čepononis led the first round in the Radviliškio–Tytuvėnų constituency with 4,634 votes (30.51%) and went on to defeat Aurimas Gaidžiūnas (LVŽS) in the runoff, thereby winning the single-member seat.

In the 2020 parliamentary elections he was nominated by TS-LKD and was elected in the Radviliškio–Tytuvėnų single-member constituency (No. 44).

In the 2019 Radviliškis District mayoral election, Čepononis secured 46.25% of the vote in the first round and was re-elected in the runoff (his TS-LKD party also won the most council seats that year).

He was re-elected as Mayor of Radviliškis District Municipality in Lithuania’s 2019 direct mayoral elections.

He was elected as Radviliškis District Mayor in Lithuania’s first direct mayoral elections in 2015.

By 2025, the Radviliškis District Mayor’s gross monthly salary (including fixed additions) was about €5,356 before taxes (as per official data).

As a Member of the Seimas, the base monthly salary for an ordinary MP was about €2,183 net (“in hand”) in 2023, and it was set to rise to roughly €3,781 net per month from 2025 (following changes to the law on parliamentary pay).

As of 2016, he declared total assets of €68,307 (for the year 2015) – a drop from the previous year – which was a relatively low amount compared to many other mayors in the Šiauliai region.

By 2015 (declared in 2016), the Čepononis family’s total declared assets had dropped to €68,307. This included approximately €28,798 in real estate, €1,738 in land, €20,563 in vehicles, and €7,997 in savings.

According to his 2014 asset declaration (filed in 2015), Antanas Čepononis together with his wife declared assets worth 260,479 LTL (approximately €75,439).

Around 2009, as Radviliškis District Mayor, Antanas Čepononis earned approximately 3,200 LTL per month after taxes (about €930).

He financed the car purchase with a bank loan – by 2010, Čepononis still had about 34,000 LTL in outstanding loans (a debt he noted was incurred to buy the vehicle).

In his 2008 asset declaration, Čepononis reported owning assets valued at 117,800 LTL (approximately €34,100), about 42,400 LTL (~€12,300) in savings, and roughly 50,000 LTL in outstanding loans.

His asset disclosures show that in 2008 he sold a garage for 25,000 LTL and acquired an automobile via leasing for 75,000 LTL.

Čepononis’s declared asset value jumped more than fivefold between 2007 and 2008, a change he attributed to selling a house in Eibariškės (at an appreciated value) and purchasing half of another house in Radviliškis (which reduced his savings).

He is the chairman of the Parish Pastoral Council at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Radviliškis, and a patron of the Family Charity and Support Foundation.

In late 2023, Čepononis faced criticism for hiring his ally Jolanta Margaitienė—who had resigned from a ministerial advisor post amid a corruption probe—as his parliamentary assistant, and for also employing Margaitienė’s niece as another aide, a move he defended as based on 'political trust'.

In late 2022, he used parliamentary expense funds to purchase an iPhone 14 smartphone (with accessories) costing €919, a move that drew public criticism at the end of his term.

Transparency activists reported in 2023 that over a two-year period, Čepononis used three different cars and logged more than 60,000 km of travel reimbursed from parliamentary expense funds.

In May 2021, the Seimas Ethics and Procedures Commission admonished Čepononis for inappropriate remarks in a private conversation and urged him to uphold higher standards even in non-public communication.

On 12 October 2017, the Šiauliai Regional Court acquitted Antanas Čepononis of all corruption charges.

In April 2015, during the ongoing trial, a court suspended Antanas Čepononis from his duties as a council member.

The TS-LKD party suspended his membership in 2011 amid the corruption probe, and it was reinstated in 2014 by a local branch decision.

In December 2011 he was accused of large-scale corruption, and a few months later the council removed him from the mayor’s office.

In 2022, he was awarded the honorary citizenship of the Radviliškis region for his contributions to the district’s development.

Čepononis did not list any assets under his wife Nijolė’s name in his disclosures, explaining that all their property is jointly owned (his wife “has nothing separately”).

He is married to Nijolė Čepononienė and has three children: a son, Tomas, and two daughters, Simona and Ieva.