Lithuania¶
The Lithuanian cases show a court’s finding on antisemitism carrying little weight in coalition politics. The Constitutional Court’s judgement did not keep the party out of government, and what limited it there was protest from cultural institutions and the coalition partner’s calculation of its own interests. Legal and moral judgements on stigma run separately from the arithmetic of majorities, and in a fragmented parliament a small party can make its acceptance the price of a government.
The clerk’s briefs¶
From the clerks, for the Patrician’s eyes
Worth a look. The people the posts were about saw a court’s finding outweighed by a coalition’s needs, and then saw the party removed for reasons that were partly electoral. Cultural organisations learn that a strike can bring down a minister, and the politician learns that a court’s finding does not bar him from government. With elections ahead, his party can campaign as an outsider thrown out by the establishment. A coalition rule treating such findings as disqualifying would change the arithmetic; without one, the next kingmaker can expect the same terms.
June 2026: Out of the coalition¶
In June 2026 the Social Democrats voted to reshuffle the ruling coalition, saying working with their partners was no longer possible, and Nemunas Dawn was out of government. LRT placed much of the blame on its leader, Zemaitaitis, who kept courting controversy; the Social Democrats’ chairman said he “may even be becoming more radical”, and LRT reported that a reset might also help the party’s ratings before next year’s municipal elections. The clerks note that this came more than two years after the Constitutional Court ruled on his posts.
October 2025: A minister lasts a week¶
On 3 October 2025 the culture minister, Ignotas Adomavicius of Nemunas Dawn, resigned after about a week in office. The backlash followed an interview in which he sidestepped questions on Ukraine and Crimea, calling them “provocative”, and culture organisations protested and went on strike. The prime minister, Inga Ruginiene, said: “We are definitely not changing the coalition at this point.” Nemunas Dawn kept the right to nominate his successor, with candidates proposed by its leader, Remigijus Zemaitaitis.
April 2024: The court and the oath¶
On 25 April 2024 the Constitutional Court found that Zemaitaitis, then a member of parliament, “broke his oath of office and grossly violated the constitution”. His Facebook posts had suggested that Jews and Russians oppressed ethnic Lithuanians during the Second World War and were behind the 1944 Pirciupiai massacre, which German SS troops carried out, and he had quoted an antisemitic rhyme. He resigned his seat to avoid an impeachment vote.