Lithuanian opposition parties to form coalition government
Lithuanian politics were in turmoil yesterday after the president moved to block three opposition parties from forming a new government because one of them is accused of vote buying and fraudulent financing.
The unexpected development complicated coalition talks after Sunday's parliamentary election, which saw the centre-right government punished by austerity-weary voters in the recession-scarred Baltic nation.
The main opposition Social Democrats won the vote and announced plans to form a left-leaning government with the Labour Party, which finished third, and the fourth-placed Order and Justice party.
But President Dalia Grybauskaite, a former EU budget commissioner, said she couldn't accept a government that included Labour due to the fraud allegations against it.
Lithuanian prosecutors and election officials have accused at least two Labour Party members of vote buying. In addition, Russian-born party leader Viktor Uspaskich is under criminal investigation for his alleged role in fraudulent party financing.
Uspaskich, who had to resign as economy minister in 2006 for a conflict-of-interest case involving business in Russia, was indignant.
"This is a democratic country and no one has the right to spit on the people's choice," he said.
The party's problems could prove a stumbling block for Algirdas Butkevicius, the Social Democratic leader and probable next prime minister. Without Labour it would need to find another coalition partner to secure a majority in Parliament.
