President wishes Peasant & Greens to form transparent, responsible coalition

The ruling coalition should be formed by the clear winner as we have. I wish them to form a transparent and responsible majority, which would have a new and high-quality stance on state governance, transparency and accountability of state governance,” Grybauskaitė said at the President’s Office on Monday.

She expressed hope that the new parliament, the new government and the President’s Office would work together in a productive and efficient manner.

In the president’s words, the outcome of the parliamentary elections resulted in major changes on Lithuania’s political map, and the essence of the changes will come with time and be demonstrated by the new ruling majority.

Grybauskaitė refused to specify on what ruling coalition would best benefit Lithuania: “This is not something I can guess.”

“No artificial coalition survives for long, as we know from time and our historic experience. The winning parties must agree themselves, take the responsibility for state governance and this is the only type of coalition than can last for the whole term,” she said.

The president met earlier in the day with the leaders of the Peasant and Green Union and of the conservative the Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats, the runner-up in the elections.

Grybauskaitė told reporters that the Peasants and Greens had shown openness and willingness to discuss a candidate to be the country’s next prime minister.

“This will happen in the future, but there is a positive attitude and I expect that, depending on what coalition is formed, we will discuss together what prime minister would be best for Lithuania,” she said.

Grybauskaitė noted that she as the president had greater powers to influence the appointment of ministers, adding that she would demand transparency, responsibility and professionalism from the new Cabinet.

“This is what I can demand under the Constitution,” she said.

The Peasant and Green Union won 56 seats in the 141-member Seimas. The Homeland Union came in second with 31 seats. The Social Democratic Party, the largest party in the outgoing Seimas, dropped to third place with 17 seats and the Liberal Movement finished fourth with 14 seats.