VILNIUS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Lithuanian parliament on Tuesday rejected the opposition party's initiative to hold early parliamentary elections this June.
The draft project calling for early elections was presented at parliament by Gabrielius Landsbergis, the leader of opposition's Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats party.
"There is no ruling majority at the parliament anymore. A ruling minority has been working for some time already which makes decisions difficult," said Lansbergis, referring to the ruling Farmers and Greens Union.
According to Landsbergis, the ruling party is unwilling to make compromises.
"We are open to compromise, unfortunately, we have not been heard so far," he added.
However, the opposition's proposal was rejected as it was supported by only 52 lawmakers, while 57 members of parliament voted against.
"It would be a waste of time and money as the early elections would barely change the current political situation," Mindaugas Puidokas, a lawmaker from the ruling Farmers and Greens, was quoted as saying at the parliament by local media.
According to calculations by the ruling party, an early election would cost more than 10 million euros (12.3 million U.S. dollars).
The initiative of early elections was pushed forward by the opposition last week after the unsuccessful impeachment process of Mindaugas Bastys, a member of parliament who was accused last year of acting against the Lithuanian state and grossly violating the Constitution.
Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite was skeptical about an early election in her comments last week. The head of state urged the parliament to find a compromise in order to "start working for the sake of the state and its people."
In the past 25 years, each of the eight initiatives for holding early election submitted at Lithuanian parliament have been rejected.
Lithuania's next parliamentary election is scheduled for October 2020.
