Lithuanian administration steps down after six-and-a-half months in office.
Lithuania is set to form a new government under the leadership of Inga Ruginienė, the current Minister of Social Security and Labour, following the resignation of Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas and his cabinet.
The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) has nominated Ruginienė as their candidate for prime minister. She has been backed by the acting party leader, Mindaugas Sinkevičius, and is awaiting formal approval from President Gitanas Nausėda and confirmation by the Seimas (Lithuanian parliament). Reports suggest that the president is positive about Ruginienė’s candidacy.
In the interim, an interim government led by Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius is serving in a caretaker capacity, following Paluckas’ resignation on July 31, 2022. The Cabinet of Ministers officially resigned on August 4, 2022, as announced by the press service.
The outgoing three-party coalition—Social Democrats, Nemunas Dawn party, and Democrats “For Lithuania”—holds 86 out of 141 seats in parliament. With the change in leadership, coalition arrangements are expected to be revised to accommodate the new prime minister. The Democrats may push to exclude Nemunas Dawn, among other possible shifts in party support.
Other candidates for the new government include Vice-Speaker of Parliament Juozas Olekas, Minister of Labor and Social Protection Ingė Ruginienė, and Mayor of Vilnius District Robert Dušanovičius.
The resignation of Prime Minister Paluckas was due to media reports of him obtaining a bank loan for a company he owned, bypassing the queue, before taking office. Paluckas was also put on trial for abuse of power in 2012, while serving as the director of the administration of the capital municipality. He was charged for providing patronage in a municipal contract and was sentenced to two years' probation. However, the specific details of the corruption scandal involving Prime Minister Paluckas prior to and after his appointment are not provided in the given text.
The text does not specify the current status of the trial against Prime Minister Paluckas from 2012. The official was ordered to pay €16,5 thousand as part of the sentence.
The formation of the 20th government of Lithuania will begin in Vilnius in the near future. The exact timeline and details of the new government's structure and policies will be revealed as the process unfolds.
The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) has nominated Ingė Ruginienė, the current Minister of Social Security and Labour, as their candidate for prime minister, following the corruption scandal involving the outgoing Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas. Ruginienė's candidacy is awaiting formal approval from President Gitanas Nausėda and confirmation by the Seimas (Lithuanian parliament), with reports suggesting that the president is positive about her potential leadership. Meanwhile, other candidates for the new government include Juozas Olekas, Robert Dušanovičius, and Ruginienė herself, although coalition arrangements may change to accommodate the new prime minister, possibly excluding the Nemunas Dawn party.
