Social Democrats invite two parties to form Lithuania’s ruling coalition

The Dawn of the Nemunas and the Democratic Union “For Lithuania” have received an invitation from the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (LSDP) to form a ruling coalition in the new Seimas.

This was confirmed to BNS by the leaders of the parties, Remigijus Žemaitaitis and Saulius Skvernelis, on Thursday.

Such a coalition would have 86 seats out of 141 in the Seimas.

According to Žemaitaitis, the coalition agreement should be agreed by Saturday. The main goals of the Dawn of the Nemunas will be to include a review of the tax reform, a halt to the health and education reforms, a reduction of the budget deficit for next year, and an energy audit, he said.

Skvernelis said that the board of the Democratic Union “For Lithuania” will consider the invitation to join the coalition on Friday.

The LSDP is holding a meeting of the party council on Saturday to approve the composition of the coalition.

The LSDP has won 52 seats in the new Seimas and is forming the ruling coalition. Apart from the two invited parties, the LSDP also held talks with the Farmers and Greens Union and the Liberal Movement.

Remigijus Žemaitaitis | J. Stacevičius / LRT

Earlier on Thursday, Gintautas Paluckas, the Social Democrat’s candidate for prime minister, confirmed to journalists that the LSDP has decided who to invite to the ruling majority, but refused to name potential partners.

Before the October parliamentary elections, LSDP leader Vilija Blinkevičiūtė said that the party was not going to work in a coalition with the Dawn of the Nemunas because of the anti-Semitic statements of its leader Žemaitaitis.

The Constitutional Court has found Žemaitaitis to have broken his oath and to have grossly violated the constitution because of these statements. In addition, the court is hearing a criminal case in which the politician is accused of public mockery, contempt of a group of people, and incitement to hatred against the Jewish people.

Žemaitaitis rejects the accusations of anti-Semitism and says that in his social media posts, he has criticised the Israeli state and not expressed hatred towards the Jewish people.