Lithuanians disapprove of Labor Code, approval of PM, ruling party falls – BNS/RAIT survey

Ten percent of respondents interviewed in May said they approved of the Labor Code, 45 percent said they disapproved and the rest had no firm opinion.

The pollster noted that better-off people were more likely to support the reform of labor relations than those with low income.

President Dalia Grybauskaite has recently signed into law the latest amendments to the Labor Code, which comes into force on Jul. 1. Supporters of the new code say that more flexible labor relations will encourage new jobs and investment. Critics warn, however, that the new legislation will make it easier for employers to sack employees.

The LFGU Sees Approval Rating Fall

The survey showed a decline in the popularity of Prime Minister Skvernelis, the LFGU and its chairman, Ramunas Karbauskis, for the third month in a row.

The public approval rating of Skvernelis dropped to 47 percent in May, from 60 percent a month ago, and that of Karbauskis went down to 36 percent, from 46 percent. Support for the ruling party fell to 22 percent, from 26 percent.

Changes in the approval ratings for other parties and politicians were not so marked in May.

Fifteen percent of respondents backed the conservative Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats, and the Liberal Movement and the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) each had support from 8 percent of those polled.

LSDP Leader Paluckas Little Known to General Public

President Dalia Grybauskaite was rated favorably by 59 percent of respondents, Viktoras Pranckietis, the speaker of the Seimas, by 40 percent, Remigijus Simasius, the leader of the Liberal Movement and the mayor of Vilnius, by 38 percent, Gabrielius Landsbergis, the Homeland Union leader, by 31 percent, Remigijus Zemaitaitis, the Order and Justice party’s leader, by 29 percent, and Valdemar Tomasevski, the leader of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania–Christian Families Alliance, by 8 percent.

The survey revealed that Gintautas Paluckas, the new leader of the LSDP and the Lithuanian capital’s vice-mayor, last month was not well known to the general public. One-fifth of respondents said they had never heard of such a politician. Nineteen percent rated him favorably and 20 percent rated him unfavorably.

RAIT interviewed 1,017 people aged between 15 and 74 years on May 13-18. The results of the representative survey have an error margin of 3.1 percent.