The Lithuanian parliament elected four deputy speakers on Tuesday, rejecting the candidate proposed by the Farmers and Greens Union (LVŽS), the biggest opposition party.
The LVŽS has threatened to go to the Constitutional Court after MPs rejected the candidacy of Aušrinė Norkienė for deputy speaker. The party maintains that as the biggest opposition group with 32 MPs – and the second-biggest group overall – it must have its representative among the six deputies of Parliament Speaker Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen.
On Monday, Čmilytė-Nielsen, a liberal, met with LVŽS leader Ramūnas Karbauskis and suggested that the party look for another candidate with more backing in the Seimas. However, the LVŽS decided to stick with Norkienė.
MPs elected four deputy speakers on Tuesday: conservatives Paulius Saudargas and Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, Vytautas Mitalas of the Freedom Party, and Julius Sabatauskas of the opposition social democrats.
Under the Statute of the Seimas, the parliament speaker can have up to seven deputies, though the coalition partners agreed earlier to have six. According to common practice, at least two should be picked from the opposition.
During the parliament's its first sitting on Friday, the MPs elected two deputy speakers: conservative Jurgis Razma and Andrius Mazuronis of the opposition Labour Party.
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