The public sees Ingrida Šimonytė, a former conservative prime minister, as the person best suited to lead the Lithuanian government, according to an opinion poll conducted by Spinter Tyrimai in July and published by Delfi on Tuesday.

When asked which politician or public figure would be best suited for the role of prime minister, 12.5 percent of respondents named Šimonytė – an increase of 3.8 percentage points from June.

Saulius Skvernelis, the leader of the Democrats “For Lithuania” party and also a former prime minister, ranked second with 9 percent support (up from 7 percent in the previous poll), followed by Liberal Movement leader Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen with 7.2 percent (up from 6.1 percent).

Next in the rankings was Gintautas Paluckas, the Social Democratic prime minister who recently resigned, with 6.5 percent (down from 7.5 percent).

Rounding out the top five was Aurelijus Veryga, leader of the opposition Farmers and Greens Union, with 3.4 percent (down from 4.6 percent).

Apart from Šimonytė, changes in support for other politicians remained within the poll’s margin of error.

When asked about the performance of Paluckas’ government, 20 percent of respondents in July rated it positively or somewhat positively, while 69 percent rated it negatively or somewhat negatively. These ratings also fell within the margin of error.

In the survey commissioned by Delfi, Spinter Tyrimai polled 1,009 people aged 18 and over via online and phone interviews between July 18 and 25.

The poll was conducted roughly a week before Paluckas announced his resignation as both prime minister and chairman of the Social Democratic Party amid growing scrutiny over his business dealings and past activities.

Source: BNS

(Reproduction of BNS information in mass media and other websites without written consent of BNS is prohibited)