The leader of Lithuania’s election-winning Social Democrats, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, has suggested she would rather remain a member of the European Parliament than become the country’s prime minister.
Blinkevičiūtė will announce her decision Wednesday morning, but she has already discussed the issue with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, local media reported.
Nausėda said he did not want to make Blinkevičiūtė’s reasons public and that the Social Democratic leader could temporarily hold the post of prime minister and hand it over later.
Local media reported that health problems could be behind the party leader’s decision.
Although it there were question marks from the beginning of the Lithuanian election campaign of whether she would take on the role, Blinkevičiūtė confirmed in the run-up Sunday’s run-off election that she would become the prime minister.
However, after the results of the second round of the election came in on Sunday night, she did not give a clear answer when asked if she still wanted to lead the country.
“All circumstances will be weighed, all this will be evaluated and then a decision will be made in our presidium … Let’s put an end to the prime minister’s position for now,” Blinkevičiūtė said at a press conference on Monday morning.
Now, as media reports emerge that she will likely remain an MEP, some of her fellow politicians are furious. “I think it’s a mistake,” Juozas Olekas, former Social Democrat MEP, told public broadcaster LRT, but then corrected himself. “It would be a mistake. And we should really work hard to regain the trust of the people that is now given to us.”
According to news portal 15min, Blinkevičiūtė’s deputy Gintautas Paluckas is likely to take over the government from the ousted Homeland Union — Lithuanian Christian Democrats, with Olekas also considered a potential candidate for the post.
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