President Dalia Grybauskaitė Preceded by Linas Balsys Political party Independent Parents Elena Skvernelienė | Preceded by Algirdas Butkevičius President Dalia Grybauskaitė Party Independent politician Succeeded by Tomas Žilinskas | |
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Preceded by Dailis Alfonsas Barakauskas Education Mykolas Romeris University (2005), Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (1994), Mykolas Romeris University Similar Ramūnas Karbauskis, Algirdas Butkevičius, Dalia Grybauskaitė, Gabrielius Landsbergis, Andrius Kubilius | ||
Saulius Skvernelis (born 23 July 1970) is a Lithuanian politician who has been Prime Minister of Lithuania since 2016. He is also a member of the Seimas. Previously he served as police commissioner, and he was Minister of the Interior from 2014 to 2016.
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Education and work
Born in Kaunas, Skvernelis graduated from the Vilnius Technical University (now Vilnius Gediminas Technical University) in 1994 and started working at the Lithuanian police academy (now Mykolas Romeris University).
In 1998 Skvernelis started his career in the Lithuanian law enforcement system, working as a traffic police inspector in Trakai District Municipality. Gradually rising through the ranks, he became the general commissioner of the Lithuanian police on 7 March 2011.
Political career
On 5 November 2014, President Dalia Grybauskaitė appointed Skvernelis as the Minister of the Interior, with the parliament confirming the appointment on 11 November. Skvernelis replaced Dailis Alfonsas Barakauskas in the role. He was nominated to the position by Order and Justice, which was part of the ruling coalition, despite not being a member of the party.
During 2015 and 2016, Skvernelis became one of the most popular politicians in Lithuania. In March 2016, Skvernelis announced he would participate in the October 2016 elections to the Seimas on the electoral list of Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, a party with only one seat in the outgoing parliament. As a result, he was forced to resign as the Minister of the Interior, to be replaced by Tomas Žilinskas.
As the head of its electoral list, Skvernelis led the Peasants and Greens to a surprisingly convincing victory in the elections in October. The party won 22.45% of valid votes in the nationwide constituency (finishing close second), but finished with 54 of the 141 seats in the Seimas, thanks to solid performances in single-member constituencies. Skvernelis was elected to the Seimas in the single-member constituency of Karoliniškės, in the capital Vilnius.
In the subsequent coalition negotiations between Peasants and Greens and the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, it was agreed that Skvernelis would become the Prime Minister of Lithuania. He was appointed as Prime Minister by President Dalia Grybauskaitė on 22 November 2016, having been confirmed by the Seimas, and assumed the office on 13 December 2016, when the Seimas approved the program of the Skvernelis Cabinet.