PM Butkevičius’ Cabinet to work as caretaker govt until new Govt is formed

Under the Constitution, the president has 15 days to nominate a candidate for the post of prime minister to the new Seimas, which is holding its first sitting on Monday, Grybauskaitė’s press office said in a press release.

The Lithuanian Peasant and Green Union (LPGU), the party that triumphed in last month’s parliamentary elections, wants Saulius Skvernelis, the leader of the LPGU election campaign, to become the next prime minister.

Under a coalition agreement between the LPGU and the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), the latter party will propose candidates for three out of 14 ministers in the new Cabinet.

Sitting in the new legislature are 59 members of the previous Seimas and 82 politicians who last month won seats for the first time or were re-elected after a break.

The LPGU is the largest party in the 141-member Seimas; most of its parliamentarians are novices.

The Peasants and Greens won 56 seats in the October elections, but their political group in the Seimas will be even larger due to several independent MPs joining them. The Social Democrats secured 17 seats in the election, but their political group will have 19 members after two Labor Party lawmakers have joined it.

The conservative Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats will have 31 seats and the Liberal Movement will have fourteen. Both parties have confirmed their plans to work in the opposition.

Eight mandates will be held by the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – Union of Christian Families and the Order and Justice Party each.

Several lawmakers from other partners were elected in single-seat constituencies.