„From what I hear, there is no doubt that the anti-Semitic theme is an important one, and it is certainly intolerable. I hope that the leader of the party and the party itself will find some harmony and try to find answers to these questions. Unfortunately, what we see today is that the statements are very worrying,“ the President said in an interview with Žinių Radijas.
Speaking about Nemuno Aušra, the President said that he believed that the political force led by Žemaitaitis would be able to answer all the questions about its foreign policy stance.
„I believe that this party is a Western-oriented party, and I very much hope that in these remaining weeks, it will be able to highlight the things that are important for every Lithuanian voter: a pro-Western orientation and the removal of any doubt that this party may in one way or another reflect the interests of the East or the Kremlin. If there were even the slightest doubt about this, I would certainly be the person who would say that this party should not be voted for,“ said Nausėda.
Recently, the party Nemuno Aušra, led by Žemaitaitis, has often been mentioned as one of the likely members of the new ruling majority. Such talk was reinforced by Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, the Chairwoman of the Social Democrats, considered the favourites in the Seimas elections, who mentioned that she would not rule out the possibility of forming a ruling coalition with Nemuno Aušra.
Such a statement by the Social Democrat was publicly criticised, emphasising that the leader of the party, Nemuno Aušra, Žemaitaitis, had been recognised by the Constitutional Court as having broken his oath as a member of the Seimas and as having grossly violated the Constitution because of anti-Semitic statements. Following this CC verdict, the politician resigned from the Seimas.
In response to Blinkevičiūtė's statement, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Seimas and leader of the Liberal Movement, said that she would not see her political force in a coalition with Nemuno Aušra. In contrast, the leader of the Conservatives, Gabrielius Landsbergis, called on the parties on the centre-left and the right to negotiate to prevent radical forces from coming to power after the autumn elections.
