Therefore, the new coalition should be formed by the Social Democrats, Nemunas Aušra, and the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LVŽS).

"We are changing coalition partners because we took into account the situation, evaluated the behavior, rhetoric, and positions of the former coalition partners. We started by first inviting the current coalition partners, trying to find out what the situation is, whether work is possible in the future. It seems that this work is impossible," said Mindaugas Sinkevičius, interim chairman of the LSDP, after the council meeting.

He indicated that 47 out of 60 LSDP branches supported a coalition with Nemunas Aušra and the Peasants.

During the vote in the LSDP council on Sunday, as many as 157 votes were in favor of a coalition with the"aušriečiai" and peasants, while the remaining two coalition options - democrats plus peasants or democrats,"aušriečiai" plus peasants - received only a few dozen votes each. By the way, M. Sinkevičius himself voted for the latter.

This means that the Democratic Union"For the Sake of Lithuania" will go to work in the opposition.

It is obvious that the leader of the Seimas will also have to change. The Social Democrats will most likely keep the post of Speaker of the Parliament. This seat is already being measured against Juozas Olekas, who was eliminated from the race for the post of Prime Minister.

The Lrytas team reported the news live from the Social Democrats headquarters.

Before the LSDP Council – an unannounced board meeting

The party board met at the LSDP headquarters in the center of Vilnius at 3 p.m. Its members had to wait for several more minutes for the interim chairman of the Social Democratic Party, M. Sinkevičius, who was stuck in traffic. This meeting was not publicly announced.

Interestingly, Inga Ruginienė, who was delegated to the premiership, did not participate in the LSDP board meeting, at least in person, with her colleagues. It was later clarified that she was connecting remotely.

From 4:30 p.m., the LSDP council joined the remote meeting - several hundred"social democrats" openly discussed and decided which coalition option to choose.

By the way, it was initially considered that the LSDP council meeting would be broadcast publicly, but in the end it was decided to hold it closed.

The sections spoke out for the"Austrias" and the peasants

Until Friday evening, LSDP branches could submit their opinions on who should be worked on next. Although the branches' answers are not made public, according to Lrytas more party members chose"Nemunos aušrās" and LVŽS. This information was later confirmed by the vice-chairman of the Social Democrats, Jūratė Zailskienė.

A significant number of"social democrats" are fed up with S. Skvernelis' attempt to be strict with the first violin and the conditions imposed by the Speaker of the Seimas.

First, he demanded a coalition without the peasants, then a government without former Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas, and finally a ruling majority without Nemunas Aušra. However, even the Democrats' detractors admit that they ensure quality in the coalition.

On the other hand, a coalition without the Democratic Union"For the Sake of Lithuania" is attractive in that the Social Democrats could retain the post of Speaker of the Seimas without major disputes.

Until the last moment, the Social Democrats hoped to preserve the current coalition with the Democrats and the"Austrias", but eventually admitted that it would no longer be possible to work with such a composition.

It is true that, both publicly and privately, some Social Democrats do not hide their dissatisfaction with the cooperation with the peasants, who have formed a faction with Waldemar Tomaszewski's Poles and Ignas Vėgėle and Rimas Jonas Jankūnas.

But it is precisely the peasants who do not set any conditions regarding potential coalition partners, and besides, there are very few of them in the Seimas, so the cost of an invitation to the coalition would be small for the Social Democrats.