Baltraitienė leaving Labour Party

Baltraitienė confirmed the fact to 15min.lt news portal, however, refused to comment on the reasons behind her move.

“I would not want to comment on the causes in public – I have simply taken the decision to terminate my party membership and leave active politics. I sent the letter to fellow members of the Labor Party of the Kėdainiai division, as I had been heading the branch for many years. The letter was intended for them, not the whole party,” she said.

Kedainietis.lt portal cited Baltraitienė as saying in the letter that the last straw was the Labour Party’s mentioning in an influence peddling case.

Last Thursday, Lithuanian law-enforcement raided by Vilnius prosecutor’s office and detained prosecutor Rita Aliukonienė who now faces suspicions of large-scale influence peddling. The Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed that the probe has to do with the Labour Party’s trial in the Supreme Court. Judge Viktoras Aidukas who headed the case was questioned as special witness.

After being in ruling majority in the 2012-2016 parliamentary term, the Labor Party failed to cross the five-percent margin in multi-member voting in the October elections, with merely two mandates won in single-member districts.