"All scenarios are possible (…) but forging a coalition with the conservatives in a young democratic country is rather risky when looking into the future. It might happen in four years that parties with old traditions might find themselves overboard, and we’ll build democracy in our country from scratch. Both the conservatives and the social democrats would disappoint voters," Butkevičius told journalists on Sunday evening.
He is convinced the Social Democratic Party will be part of a ruling coalition after a break of four years, and hopes the party will get around 20 percent of the vote.
"We'll be part of a ruling coalition anyway. We haven't yet decided with whom. But, naturally, if we have been in the opposition with the Labor Party and the Order and Justice Party for four years, so we'll talk to them. But it might happen so that we’ll have to forge a coalition with the parties people will trust most," the social democratic leader said.
Asked about future work, Butkevičius underlined that a government program with four or five priorities that would have to be implemented very quickly would be drafted.
"State administration needs continuity, and continuity means that we have to choose which preset goals need to be continued and what new ones have to be drawn. For example, we have a new housing renovation program. We have agreed that funds for agricultural aid in the new financial perspective should be directed to agricultural production. We have also proposed using a large part of EU funds for the heating reform for shifting to biofuel. We well definitely continue this work," Butkevičius said.
He said he's in favor of the LNG terminal project but, in his opinion, the project should become regional.
"In terms of foreign policy, it’s very important to improve our relations with neighboring countries. That will be done in a diplomatic way. We hope to be able to agree on the same price for imported gas for Lithuania as it is sold to Latvia and Estonia. We’ll try to reduce heating prices for the upcoming heating season at least to some extent and to create added value for us to be able to increase wages and the minimum wage," Butkevičius said.
Lithuania held general elections on Sunday. The opposition Labor Party won a majority of votes in Sunday's general elections in Lithuania, leaving the social democrats and conservatives behind, according to exit polls.
Based on the results of a survey by BNS news agency and company RAIT, 19.8 percent of people voted for the Labor Party. The social democrats came in second with 17.8 percent, followed by the conservative Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats (16.7 percent).
The Liberal Movement of the Republic of Lithuania and the political party The Path of Courage (8.5 percent each) and the Order and Justice Party (8.4 percent) also got into the top six.
Meanwhile the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania and the Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union are balancing on the verge of the 5-percvent threshold with 4.8 and 4.7 percent respectively, exit polls show.
47 percent of people refused to disclose who they had voted for.
