Lithuania's Social Democratic Party signs coalition agreement

Vilnius, Nov 11 (IANS) Lithuania's Social Democratic Party (LSDP), Dawn of Nemunas (PPNA) and the Democratic Union 'For Lithuania' (DSVL) signed an agreement on Monday to form a ruling coalition in the future Seimas and government, the Baltic News Service (BNS) reported.

The document was signed after all the three parties approved its draft on the weekend.

Under the coalition agreement, Gintautas Paluckas will lead the new government, while DSVL leader Saulius Skvernelis will serve as Speaker of the Seimas. The distribution of ministerial roles allocates three ministries to PPNA, two to DSVL, and nine to LSDP.

The agreement includes commitments to create a Road Fund, introduce value-added tax relief for fruits and vegetables, reform the second tier of pensions, increase efforts to combat xenophobia, reintroduce a public electricity supplier, and halt education reforms.

The coalition would hold at least 86 of the 141 parliamentary mandates in the next term, Xinhua news agency reported.

Following two rounds of parliamentary elections on October 13 and 27, LSDP secured the largest share of votes, winning 52 seats in the 141-seat unicameral parliament, with PPNA and DSVL securing 20 and 14 mandates, respectively.

--IANS

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