Lithuania’s parliament on Tuesday confirmed Inga Ruginienė — a longtime trade union leader and relative newcomer to politics — as the country’s new prime minister, following the resignation of Gintautas Paluckas amid allegations concerning his financial dealings.
Ruginienė, 44, now has 15 days to present her government’s program to lawmakers. The platform is expected to emphasize security, economic growth, and social welfare, and will likely resemble the previous cabinet’s agenda.
A member of the Social Democrats, Ruginienė only entered politics last year, when she was appointed minister of social security and labor. Before that, she spent her career in the trade union movement, holding senior positions in both Lithuanian and European organizations.
The opposition, however, has expressed skepticism about her capacity to govern.
“It is impossible not to notice the candidate’s striking lack of political experience,” said Laurynas Kasčiūnas, leader of the Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats, ahead of the vote.
In her address to parliament, Ruginienė pledged to prove her critics wrong.
“My biggest dream is that at the end of my term, I can once again stand before you and say that together we were able to accomplish very, very important work,” she said.
Ruginienė has previously condemned Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and declared her support for Kyiv. Yet she has faced questions about personal trips to Russia following the annexation of Crimea, citing her family roots in both Ukraine and Russia as context.
Her candidacy emerged after the Social Democrats’ first-choice contenders — Deputy Speaker Juozas Olekas and Transport Minister Eugenijus Sabutis — unexpectedly withdrew late in the race. Their decisions were never explained, though President Gitanas Nausėda had cautioned, on the day of Paluckas’ resignation, that any successor would need to be carefully vetted to avoid “another situation like this” and preserve stability.
That warning proved apt. Within days of bowing out, Sabutis became the subject of a Special Investigation Service probe into allegations of office abuse and document forgery tied to his earlier role on a district council. Olekas, meanwhile, has been chosen as the new speaker of parliament.
