Remigijus Žemaitaitis, the leader of the Nemunas Dawn party, said on Monday he would raise the issue of his party staying in the ruling coalition if he was not appointed a deputy speaker of Lithuania’s Seimas.
“We will soon raise the question of whether or not the Nemunas Dawn can stay in the ruling coalition, and how the coalition partners are willing to stick to the agreements,” Žemaitaitis told reporters after the coalition council’s meeting at the Seimas on Monday.
He said earlier in the day that he would seek to become one of the Seimas deputy speakers during the parliament’s ongoing fall session. He said his legal problems were resolved after the Seimas lifted his immunity as part of a criminal case of incitement to hatred against Jews.
In response, Seimas Speaker Saulius Skvernelis said that Žemaitaitis would not be nominated without a court ruling as this was the only way to “resolve the legal problems”.
“If the coalition decides that a court ruling is needed, we will look into this. The other question is what the purpose of being in the ruling coalition is if the ruling coalition does not respect the agreements and commitments,” Žemaitaitis said, adding that the refusal to nominate him for a Seimas deputy speaker is a breach of the coalition agreement.
The Nemunas Dawn has been given two Seimas deputy speaker positions, with one of them already taken by Agnė Širinskienė.
Žemaitaitis was stripped of his legal immunity on December 3 as Vilnius Regional Court is hearing the case on his statements about Jews.
Earlier this year, the Constitutional Court ruled that Žemaitaitis broke his oath as an MP and grossly violated the constitution by making anti-Semitic statements. However, he avoided impeachment by resigning from his Seimas seat. He was re-elected to the parliament in October.
In November, prosecutors launched a pre-trial investigation into possible incitement of hatred after Žemaitaitis called on people to gather and light candles outside the home of Vytautas Landsbergis, honorary chairman of the conservative Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats, and into allegations of defaming former Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė.
The centre-left ruling coalition of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), the Democratic Union “For Lithuania”, and the Nemunas Dawn party has 86 seats in the 141-seat parliament.
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