Seven commission members voted in favor of such a draft resolution, five were against and one member abstained.
The final decision will be made by the Seimas.
Uspaskich, Gapšys, and Vonžutaitė are standing trial in Vilnius Regional Court for organizing fraudulent bookkeeping while holding executive positions in the party between 2004 and 2006. They are charged with fraud.
Uspaskich strongly denies accusations and says this case is politically motivated.
Trial will make work with Social Democrats harder
Uspaskich said on Thursday it would be more difficult to work with the Social Democrats after their members voted in favor of canceling his legal immunity.
The vote shows that the Social Democrats plan to work with the opposition Conservatives, Uspaskich said.
"The coalition partners have talked a lot that it's a political case and many other things but, perhaps, there are other instructions. Perhaps they are starting to work with the Conservatives," Uspaskich told reporters on Thursday.
"It will be harder to work, it will be not that easy to work as if the coalition partners show that they will work with the opposition, then, obliviously, it will be difficult to work but we won’t do anything consciously, we don’t need that," he said.
Social Democrats to support the motion
Lithuanian Social Democrat Prime Minister-Designate Algirdas Butkevičius meanwhile says that all Social Democrats will take part in the vote on the cancelation of legal immunity for Uspaskich and they will support the motion.
"Our political group is disciplined and will definitely take part. As far as I know, most probably 100 percent, as nobody said they would act differently. You'll see for yourselves," Butkevičius said when asked how he planned to ensure participation of the Social Democrats.
All Social Democrats, who were part of the parliamentary commission, voted to support the conclusion.
Seven commission members voted in favor of such a draft resolution, five were against and one member abstained. Only three members of the Labor Party, including Valentinas Bukauskas, Šarūnas Birutis, and Artūras Paulauskas, Vanda Kravčionok of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania, and Jonas Varkala, a member of the Path of Courage Party, voted against, and the commission chairman, Andrius Mazuronis of the Order and Justice Party, abstained.
Conservative members Kęstutis Masiulis, Arvydas Anušauskas, Stasys Šedbaras, Social Democrats Rimantė Šalaševičiūtė, Darius Petrošius, Artūras Skardžius, and Liberal Remigijus Šimašius voted in favor of immunity cancelation.
"The [Social Democratic] members who worked in the commission informed the party's leadership yesterday that they see that economic and financial offences were committed. Yes, no doubt, (the Social Democrats will vote in favor of immunity cancelation – BNS), cases must be heard by courts, and politicians have no right to restrict the work of courts or judges," the Social Democratic leader said.
Following the commission's vote, Butkevičius was invited to a meeting of the Labor Party's political group.
"I was invited for a short period of time and said that as the prime minister-designate, my goal is to organize the Cabinet's work and I cannot be involved in any other discussions on some other decisions which are not related to the coalition's work and to the Cabinet's work," he said.
Butkevičius, however, stressed that he was not delivered any ultimatums by the Labor Party regarding the immunity vote. He hopes the Labor Party will back the government program. "No, I did not hear any ultimatums. I believe they will back (the government program – BNS). As far as I understood, they will," Butkevičius said.
Following the commission vote, the meeting of the Labor Party's political group protracted and its members were late for the Seimas sitting, leading to postponement of the deliberation of the government program and other issues.
Asked whether the Labor Party's political group would back the program, Uspaskich said: "The group will vote on the government program." But he did not say how.
Uspaskich did not say whether the coalition partners' immunity vote might influence voting on the government program later on Thursday. He said these were two different issues.
"The immunity and program are to separate issues. Perhaps we'll vote in favor (of the program – BNS). But we’ll have to inform our political group about the commission's decision, and the group will decide (on how to vote – BNS). I would invite them to vote. It's one thing, and the immunity is a different thing," Uspaskich said.
The Labor Party's leader also believes the Social Democrats should keep themselves aloof from the immunity vote as the Social Democrats are biased, and he reasoned his version with WikiLeaks documents.
"To be frank, they have a conflict of interest in this case as American diplomats say in their report sent to the White House that the Cabinet, the Social Democrats staged a coup in the Labor Party, staged the removal of the Labor Party's leader, and in this case in a normal political democratic community it’s a conflict of interests. They cannot take part," the Labor Party's leader said.
In one of the documents leaked by WikiLeaks, US diplomats say Social Democrat Gediminas Kirkilas, the then minister of national defense, told them about a planned coup in the Labor Party, aimed at the removal of its leader.
