Paluckas stepped down after revelations about business links tied to his family. A company co-owned by the prime minister, Komis, received a preferential loan repayment from the state development bank, while his sister-in-law’s firm used EU funds and purchased goods or services from Komis. Lithuania’s ethics watchdog and law-enforcement are investigating. Coalition ally “For Lithuania” threatened to quit the government unless he left by August 18, prompting his move to preserve stability.
Under Lithuanian law, the president must be formally notified the same day, appoint a caretaker prime minister and, within 15 days, submit a nominee to the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas. After lawmakers approve the nominee, a cabinet lineup and government program must follow within another 15 days for parliamentary confirmation.
The majority-holding Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) has four names in play: acting party chair Mindaugas Sinkevičius, Seimas deputy speaker Juozas Olekas, Labor and Social Security Minister Inga Ruginienė, and Robert Duchniewicz, a 34-year-old vice-chair of the LSDP and mayor of the Vilnius district municipality.
Duchniewicz, from Lithuania’s Polish minority, is seen by some as a fresh option despite limited administrative experience. He is “young, ambitious, [and] untainted by scandals,” said Antoni Radczenko of Polish daily Kurier Wileński, adding that such traits matter after Paluckas’s exit.
His potential nomination could carry political risks for the LSDP: relinquishing his mayoral post might cost the party control of the district encircling the capital, long dominated—until his narrow victory in the last local elections—by the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania–Christian Families Alliance (AWPL-ZChR).
The entire government will resign with Paluckas and continue in a caretaker role until a new cabinet is sworn in. Observers do not rule out changes to the centrist-left coalition of the LSDP (52 seats), Świt Niemna (20), and the Democratic Union “In the Name of Lithuania” (14).
(jh)
Source: PAP, IAR