Vilnius, July 31 Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas on Thursday informed the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party's board of his decision to resign.
According to the Baltic News Service (BNS), the announcement comes ahead of a planned vote by the party's executive board on Thursday.
Paluckas' decision follows a warning issued by Saulius Skvernelis, Speaker of the Seimas and leader of the Democratic Union "For Lithuania," who stated that his party would withdraw from the governing coalition if Paluckas remained in office.
Paluckas is also stepping down as the Chairman of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), and Mindaugas Sinkevicius, the Mayor of Jonava District and Paluckas' former first deputy, will take over the leadership, party sources confirmed to BNS on Thursday.
Sinkevicius stated that he has no intention of seeking the Prime Minister's post following Paluckas' resignation and promised that the party will nominate a new candidate without delay.
It remains unclear who the Social Democrats will nominate for the new Prime Minister, with the names of the First Deputy Speaker of the Seimas, Juozas Olekas, and Social Security and Labour Minister Inga Ruginiene mentioned in the political corridors.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda welcomed Paluckas' decision to resign as Prime Minister, describing the step as the only right choice.
Under the Constitution of Lithuania, the entire Cabinet must step down along with the Prime Minister.
Since Paluckas is named as Prime Minister in the current centre-left coalition agreement, a new agreement will also need to be negotiated.
Paluckas announced his resignation amid two pre-trial investigations into his business dealings and controversy surrounding his involvement in business, ties to certain businesspeople and failure to pay damages owed to the Vilnius municipality.
He said that he does not feel he made any serious mistakes but wants to prevent the governing coalition and cabinet from becoming hostages to the political scandals surrounding him.
"Seeing how these escalating scandals are bogging down the work of the government, I believe I cannot allow our ruling coalition and cabinet to become hostages to these controversies. That's why I have decided to take a swift and firm decision," Paluckas said in a statement released by the party.
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