Algirdas Mykolas BRAZAUSKAS

Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania

Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas was born into a family of civil servants in Rokiškis in 1932. After graduating from Kaišiadorys secondary school in 1951, he entered Kaunas Polytechnic Institute, which he graduated in 1956 as a civil engineer specializing in hydrotechnical equipment.

From 1965 to 1967 Algirdas Brazauskas was the Minister of Building Materials Industry. In 1967, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Committee. In 1974, Algirdas Brazauskas was granted the degree of Doctor of Sciences of Economics. From 1977 through 1987 Brazauskas was the Secretary of Economic Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania.

In 1988,  at the time of deep crisis within the Party,  Algirdas Brazauskas was elected  First Secretary of the Central Committee of  the Communist  Party of Lithuania. His candidature for the post was supported by  the Lithuanian national liberation movement, Sąjūdis. Under his leadership, in 1989 the Communist Party of Lithuania broke away from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Algirdas Brazauskas, who was elected to the Reconstituent Seimas of Lithuania, is a signatory to the Act on the Restoration of the Independence of Lithuania that was passed by the Reconstituent Seimas of Lithuania on 11 March 1990. In 1990-1991 he served as the Vice Prime Minister in the First Government of the Republic of Lithuania.

At the Constituent Congress of the Lithuanian Democratic Labour Party (LDLP) in December 1990, Algirdas Brazauskas was elected Chairman of the Party and became the leader of the largest political  party in Lithuania.

After the LDLP won the parliamentary elections in October 1992, Algirdas Brazauskas was elected  Chairman of the Seimas of Lithuania and became acting President of  the country.

During the presidential elections, which were held on 14 February 1993, Algirdas Brazauskas received 60 per cent of all votes and was elected President of the Republic of Lithuania for a term of five years. Pursuant to the Constitution of Lithuania,  Algirdas Brazauskas suspended his membership in LDLP. On 23 February 1993, he was inaugurated President of the Republic of Lithuania.

Since January 2001, Algirdas Brazauskas has been the Chairman of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party.

On 3 July 2001, the Seimas approved him the Prime Minister of the Republic of  Lithuania.

President Brazauskas is married, has two daughters and five grandchildren. His wife Julia is a physician. The President’s hobbies include yachting and hunting.