Social Democrats oppose Order and Justice nomination for interior minister

Social Democratic Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius said on Monday morning he would not appoint Gylys to the post.

“I have decided to reject the Gylys candidacy proposed by the Order and Justice party,” he said in a statement.

The Order and Justice party’s leader, Rolandas Paksas, asked Minister of the Interior Saulius Skvernelis to step down after he chose to join the Peasant and Greens Union for the upcoming Seimas elections. Skvernelis was an independent when the Order and Justice party nominated him for his post.

Kirkilas also announced that Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius would submit Saulius Skvernelis’ resignation to Dalia Grybauskaitė on Monday. Social Democratic vice-chairman Algirdas Sysas told BNS that, until Skvernelis will receive a replacement, he will be replaced by current Minister of Economy Evaldas Gustas.

“[On Monday,] the prime minister will present the current minister of the interior, and it will probably be signed by Wednesday, I think, when the president returns. The council has decided to unanimously oppose the candidate offerd by the Order and Justice party, Povilas Gylys,” Kirkilas said on Monday.

“The council believes that this is not a suitable candidate for various reasons – because of how he came into politics, all of these aspects were mentioned, and because the system probably would not support him,” Kirkilas explained. Gylys became a member of the Seimas together with the highly controversial Way of Courage party.

Paksas presented Gylys as a candidate to the prime minister on Friday. After hearing of the Social Democrats’ opposition to Gylys’ candidacy, Paksas said that he looks forward to hearing the party’s reasons for opposing the candidacy, and especially those of the party’s leader, Butkevičius. He said that only after hearing the Social Democratic party’s reasons would the Order and Justice party consider proposing another candidate.