President Gitanas Nausėda believes that the political crisis in Lithuania, which was caused by the municipal expenses scandal, may be solved either by a snap election or a Cabinet reshuffle.
President Gitanas Nausėda has stated that Minister of Finance Gintarė Skaistė and Minister of Culture Simonas Kairys should not be nominated to the new Government. Both of them are involved in the scandal over opaque spending of public funds on expenses when they used to be municipal councillors before joining the Cabinet after the 2020 parliamentary election.
The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) would secure the most votes in parliamentary elections, a poll published by the daily Lietuvos rytas indicates. The Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrat party (TS-LKD) meanwhile dropped from the second to fourth spot in one month.
The prime minister and Conservative leader have called together on their fellow members of their Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) to support the party presidium’s proposal to hold a snap parliamentary election.
The Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) intends to initiate early parliamentary elections amid the scandal over municipal expenses. Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė vowed to resign if parliament rejects the idea of a snap election, but TS-LKD leader Gabrielius Landsbergis has mentioned that “a new old” prime minister could lead the new Government. However, Šimonytė refuses to speculate if she may hold the PM’s position in the new Government.