Eight appeals challenge ruling against Nemuno Aušra over election funding
Wednesday 9th September 2026 on 16:45 in
Lithuania
Lithuania’s Supreme Administrative Court has accepted eight appeals against an election commission ruling that found opposition party Nemuno Aušra and its leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis had seriously violated election financing rules, LRT reported.
Separate appeals were filed by Nemuno Aušra, Žemaitaitis, party board members and parliamentarians Lina Šukytė-Korsakė and Robertas Puchovičius, two of Žemaitaitis’s relatives, and companies linked to him, Tvari statyba and Lajota.
The Central Electoral Commission must respond to the appeals within 14 days. The court will decide whether to combine the cases at its first hearing, which will be scheduled after the commission submits its responses.
In August, the commission found that Nemuno Aušra had seriously violated the law by financing its 2024 parliamentary election campaign with funds from legal entities and through third parties. It also found that Žemaitaitis had violated the law for the same reasons when he ran for president in 2024.
According to the commission, 24,200 euros from Tvari statyba and Lajota were transferred through Puchovičius to finance Nemuno Aušra’s parliamentary election campaign. A further 4,500 euros from Tvari statyba were transferred through Puchovičius to finance Žemaitaitis’s presidential campaign.
The commission also found that some Nemuno Aušra membership fees had been paid with money received by Puchovičius from a third party. A total of 4,300 euros in membership fees was paid this way.
Because of the violations, Nemuno Aušra could be barred from receiving state budget allocations for up to two years. The commission plans to consider the issue in the autumn.
This is the party’s second serious financial violation. In March, the commission ruled that Nemuno Aušra had misused state budget funds by renting cars from its leader and a party member and paying for the rentals with money allocated to the party. As a result, it did not receive its state grant for the first half of this year, worth 241,800 euros.