VILNIUS – Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas told a newspaper on Thursday that the political situation in the country was "bad" and the "hostility" to the government has grown.
Brazauskas, currently on holiday at the seaside, told the Vakaru Ekspresas daily, "I think that the political situation is very bad as people's hostility to the authorities is deepening. It is prompted by all those measures of law enforcement institutions."
The prime minister, commenting on the recent raids on political parties' headquarters, said he could not distinguish between "legal proceedings and political acts" and that the work of law enforcement agencies was "the most dangerous point."
"It can't be true that all those working for public institutions are wrongdoers, but a shadow is cast over all of them. If one person has done something wrong, a shadow is cast over the whole party, Parliament, government. One must distinguish between law enforcement and personal responsibility," Brazauskas said.
The prime minister said he was puzzled by why his Social Democratic Party was being painted as the most corrupt.
"Could you tell me on what grounds such conclusions have been drawn? I don't understand. What are the facts? Well, politician's wrongdoings have been detected – I don't deny this. It is personal responsibility. But why are public institutions accused? It is a crisis in public governance," the prime minister said.
According to a poll published this week, every fourth resident of the country considers the Social Democratic Party to be the most corrupt, the Baltic News Service reported, while every third Lithuanian said in a recent poll that he or she would vote for the upstart Labor Party, lead by a millionaire MP, Viktor Uspaskich.
