Peasants expect to begin consultations with conservatives, SocDems Tuesday

MP Povilas Urbšys, coordinator of the consultation group, told BNS that they expected to hold separate consultation meetings with the potential coalition partners.

“The venue and hour have not been discussed yet. We have simply given that information to the partners and are waiting for their responses,” he said.

Urbsys said that the aim of the consultations would be “to pave the way” for coalition talks.

Ramūnas Karbauskis, the LPGU chairman, said last night that the party would set up two groups: one for meetings with the Social Democrats and the other for meetings with the conservatives.

However, Stasys Jakeliūnas, the LPGU’s candidate for finance minister, told BNS on Monday that it had been decided that one group would be enough, at least for now.

He said that Karbauskis and Saulius Skvernelis, the leader of the LPGU’s parliamentary election list, would not participate in meetings with potential coalition partners at the consultation stage, but they would join the talks at a later stage.

The Peasants and Greens won 56 seats in the 141-member Seimas. The Homeland Union came in second with 31 seats and the Social Democratic Party was third with 17 seats.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė met on Monday with the leaders of the LPGU and the Homeland Union. She called on the Peasants and Greens to form a transparent and responsible ruling coalition.