Opposition to take over leadership of Seimas Audit Committee

Lithuania’s ruling coalition parties—Social Democrats, Democrats, and the Homeland Union—have agreed to transfer leadership of the Seimas Audit Committee to the opposition, according to a report by LRT.

Mindaugas Sinkevičius, leader of the largest governing party, the Social Democrats, confirmed on Thursday that the opposition will assume the committee’s chairmanship. Currently, the committee is chaired by Artūras Skardžius, a member of the “Nemuno aušra” party from the previous coalition.

Sinkevičius stated that there had been an informal agreement that a member of the ruling majority would lead the committee for the first half of the term, with an opposition representative taking over for the second half. The current Seimas term will reach its midpoint this autumn.

The Seimas statute stipulates that an opposition member must hold either the chair or deputy chair position in the Audit Committee. However, in practice, the opposition has previously been given the chairmanship for an entire term.

The Audit Committee currently consists of seven members: three Social Democrats, and one each from the Conservatives, “Aušra”, the Liberal Movement, and the Mixed Group of Seimas Members.