Minister of the Interior

Dailis Alfonsas Barakauskas [lt], delegated by the Order and Justice party as Minister of the Interior, became complicit in a corruption scandal in late 2014 and chose to resign.^[5] Order and Justice tapped Skvernelis as his replacement, despite him not being a member of the party, and he accepted. On 5 November 2014, President Dalia Grybauskaitė appointed Skvernelis as Minister of the Interior, with the Seimas confirming the appointment on 11 November.^[2]

From the beginning of his term as Minister, Skvernelis enjoyed high approval ratings.^[6] However, he nearly resigned in 20 November 2015 after an incident in Vilnius, in which Igor Molotkov, a Russian-speaking inhabitant of Vilnius arrested by Lithuanian police, escaped out of a police vehicle with a stolen AK-47 and roamed the city for several hours until he was detained again.^[7] An action among members of the Seimas in support of him remaining in the post, initiated by Petras Gražulis, gathered the signatures of a majority of the parliament.^[8] Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius refused his resignation on 30 November.^[9]

During the 2015 European migrant crisis, Skvernelis criticised anti-migrant rhetoric,^[10] but also expressed scepticism towards the European Union's policy of migrant quotas.^[11] He conflicted with Speaker of the Seimas Loreta Graužinienė and President Grybauskaitė during his term.

2016 parliamentary election and Skvernelis Cabinet

By 2016, Skvernelis had become one of the most popular politicians in Lithuania.^[12] As a result, he was approached by several political parties, including the Liberal Movement, the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania and Order and Justice, to join their party or participate in their electoral list in the 2016 parliamentary election.^[13] However, he refused their offers and announced he would participate in the electoral list of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, a party with only one seat in the outgoing parliament, in March 2016.^{[14][15][16][17]} As the Farmers and Greens were a part of the opposition, he was forced to resign as Minister of the Interior and was replaced by Tomas Žilinskas [lt].^[18]

Although not a member of the party, Skvernelis headed the electoral list of the Farmers and Greens, leading them to a surprisingly large victory in the 2016 election. The party won 22.45% of votes in the nationwide constituency (finishing close second to the Homeland Union), but finished with 54 of the 141 seats in the Seimas, thanks to strong performances in single-member constituencies. Skvernelis was elected to the Seimas in the single-member constituency of Karoliniškės in Vilnius.^[19]

As the Farmers and Greens had never held the plurality of seats, a coalition with either the Homeland Union or the Social Democrats was considered. After a grand coalition was dismissed by party leaders, the right wing of the Homeland Union, represented by Žygimantas Pavilionis, Audronius Ažubalis, Paulius Saudargas, Agnė Bilotaitė and others, pressured Gabrielius Landsbergis to form a coalition with the party.^[20] However, the Farmers and Greens chose to form a coalition with the Social Democrats instead. In the subsequent coalition negotiations, it was agreed that Skvernelis would become the Prime Minister of Lithuania.^[21] He was appointed as Prime Minister by President Dalia Grybauskaitė on 22 November 2016, having been confirmed by the Seimas,^[22] and assumed the office on 13 December 2016, when the Seimas approved the program of the Skvernelis Cabinet.

2019 presidential campaign

On 17 January 2019, Skvernelis announced his candidacy for the presidency.^[40] In the first round of the presidential election he came third. After his poor showing Skvernelis announced that he would resign from position of Prime Minister, but later retracted his remarks.

Thirteenth Seimas (since 2020)

In March 2021 the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and the Labour Party signed a coalition agreement that gave the needed number of members of Seimas for the parties to appoint the opposition leader to the Seimas' Board. On 25 March 2021 Skvernelis was appointed to this position. He remained in this position until mid-September 2021.

In late 2021, Skvernelis left the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union political group in Seimas and formed the political group Democrats "For Lithuania".^[41]

On 29 January 2022 he formed his own party, Union of Democrats "For Lithuania", and was elected its first chairman.^[42]

Foreign honours

•  Poland: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (15 July 2019)