Lithuanian parlt speaker says not considering resignation (media)

“The party’s chairman apparently just let his emotion out. This was not discussed and nobody is discussing this. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding. (Ramūnas) Karbauskis is not the only one who decides,” Pranckietis told Lietuvos Rytas TV.

“I’m sure it was an emotion, given that pressure and that big crowd of people,” he added.

The speaker said that he had support in the Seimas.

Karbauskis told participants of Thursday’s protest rally outside the parliament building in Vilnius that Pranckietis had to step down if he was ashamed of some members of the parliament.

“Perhaps he (Pranckietis) isn’t used to such public reaction. If he’s ashamed, it is we who elect the speaker in the Seimas and we can elect a new speaker. If he’s ashamed, he has to resign,” the leader of the ruling Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LFGU) said.

“But I don’t quite understand what he’s ashamed of. As a matter of fact, the decision on Bastys’ leaving was achieved thanks to the Farmers and Greens Union,” he added.

Pranckietis, a member of the LFGU, told the rally earlier that he was ashamed of some members of the Seimas.

“What has brought you and us here is shame. Am I ashamed? Yes, I am. Am I ashamed of Bastys? Am I ashamed of Pūkas? Am I ashamed of Kildišienė? Am I ashamed of Skardžius? I’m here because I’m ashamed, too,” he said.

Thousands of people took part in the rally in the capital’s Independence Square on Thursday evening to voice their discontent over the parliament’s failure to impeach Mindaugas Bastys for allergy acting against Lithuanian interests and over the ruling LFGU’s performance.