Remigijus Žemaitaitis removed from ruling coalition, calls it a “relief”

The leader of Lithuania’s Nemuno aušra party, Remigijus Žemaitaitis, said he feels “more relief than disappointment” after the governing Social Democrats expelled his faction from the ruling coalition, state news agency BNS reported Saturday.

“I think there’s more relief,” Žemaitaitis told reporters. “Now, as I’ve said before, we can finally breathe easier. We’ll have to comment less, answer for fewer things.”

The Social Democrats (LSDP) announced the decision on Saturday, replacing Nemuno aušra with the Democratic Union “For Lithuania” in coalition talks. The move follows tensions over Žemaitaitis’s sharp criticism of government ministers, his public statements sparking negative reactions, and his first-instance court conviction for antisemitism.

Disagreements intensified after Nemuno aušra lawmakers opposed the establishment of a military training ground in Kapčiamiestis. Some Social Democrats had also expressed frustration with Žemaitaitis’s confrontational rhetoric.

The current ruling majority in Lithuania’s parliament holds 80 seats. If the new coalition—comprising the Social Democrats, Democrats, and the Farmers and Greens Union—materialises, it would command 75 votes.

After the 2024 parliamentary elections, the Social Democrats initially formed a coalition with Nemuno aušra and the Democrats, but last autumn replaced the latter with the Farmers and Greens faction.