LITHUANIA'S PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER RESIGNS; PM ALSO

C O N F I D E N T I A L VILNIUS 000182 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/27/2018 TAGS: PGOV LH SUBJECT: LITHUANIA'S PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER RESIGNS; PM ALSO UNDER FIRE Classified By: Ambassador Cloud for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) SUMMARY. Lithuania's Speaker of the Parliament announced his resignation on March 26 after he was caught on videotape apparently paying a bribe to a county official to facilitate his brother-in-law's real estate deal. Muntianas denies any wrongdoing and alleges he was framed by political rivals. Prime Minister Kirkilas is also under fire, in large part because of the poor public opinion poll numbers for his Social Democratic Party in the run up to October parliamentary elections. END SUMMARY. Speaker Reluctantly Resigned -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Viktoras Muntianas, Speaker of the Parliament since 2006, announced on March 26 that he will resign. His formal resignation will take place at the next meeting of Parliament, April 1. He will also leave his post as the head of the coalition member Civil Democracy party. Muntianas will retain his MP status. He has not been formally indicted. ¶3. (SBU) The Civil Democracy party was weak before the scandal and may not win any seats in the upcoming October elections. The party was created in May 2006, as a spin-off of the Labor party. Muntianas claims that the head of the Labor party, Viktor Uspaskich, had a hand in his downfall. Muntianas believes that Uspaskich's Labor party wants revenge for Muntianas's role in splitting up the Labor party in 2006. Prime Minister Under Fire -------------- ¶4. (C) As the Social Democratic Party has fallen to fourth place in public opinion polls, Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas has been increasingly under fire. Kirkilas succeeded in January in establishing a majority government after spending eighteen months as prime minister of a fractious minority. Kirkilas has been criticized as being ineffective -- unable to say 'no' to members of his coalition and unable to move forward any meaningful Government programs. In addition, Kirkilas has not succeeded in gaining preeminence within his own party from now retired long-term party leader Algirdas Brazauskas. ¶5. (SBU) On March 18, 58 MPs called for an interpellation (i.e., essentially a potential vote of no confidence) of the PM. The interpellation calls on the PM to answer 19 questions, many focused on the establishment of a "national investor" that will operate Lithuania,s electrical energy sector, including developing a new nuclear power plant in Lithuania. The PM is required to respond to the questions by April 1. After his response, the Parliament will have five days to review his answers and can then call for a vote on whether to dismiss the PM, requiring a simple majority of 71 MPs. Most observers predict Kirkilas will survive the vote but will remain under fire. CLOUD