American Jewish Committee troubled about SocDems open to work with Žemaitaitis

Discussions on the Nemunas Dawn party, which is gaining popularity in Lithuania despite its leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis’ antisemitic statements, have also been observed outside the country. The American Jewish Committee has said all traditional parties should distance themselves from any collaboration with the „extremist“ party, referring to the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party’s (LSDP) considerations to form a coalition with the new force.

„In Lithuania, a new, explicitly antisemitic political party led by former MP Remigijus Žemaitaitis, is polling in third place in the October parliamentary elections,“ The American Jewish Committee posted on X on Wednesday.

„Even more troubling, the Social Democratic Party says it is open to a coalition government with Žemaitaitis,“ it said.

„If they are faithful to fundamental democratic and European values, all mainstream parties must forswear forming a government with this extremist party,“ the American Jewish Committee stated.

MEP Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, chair of the Social Democratic Party, has hinted that she would not rule out the possibility of forming a ruling coalition with the Nemunas Dawn party.

However, later she clarified that it was too early to talk about possible coalitions as everything would be decided after the parliamentary election on 13 October. Despite that, the LSDP leader identified one red line – she said she could not imagine working together with the Conservatives.