by Stasys Gudavičius, November 11, 2024, Verslo žinios

“I believe that a mistake was made, and the coalition has weeks to prove this wasn’t a mistake,” Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda told reporters Monday.

He reported he had met with the Social Democrat Party’s pick for prime minister Gintautas Paluckas, Social Democrat Party leader Vilija Blinkevičiūtė and Democratic Union chairman Saulius Skvernelis Monday morning.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

Note: As of Wednesday evening president Nausėda was refusing to approve any government coalition which included ministers from Remigijus Žemaitaitis’s Nemuno Aušra party because of Žemaitaitis’s anti-Semitic statements in spring of 2023 and later, which Žemaitaitis used to launch his new party which placed third in recent elections. Žemaitaitis said he would find non-party candidates to assume three ministerial posts. President Nausėda hasn’t indicated he would approve or disapprove of that novel kind of Lithuanian government. Under a proportional sharing agreement, Nemuno Aušra would receive three minister portfolios in a Paluckas-led coalition government. Constitutionally, the president can refuse to confirm any coalition government for as long as he wants, but customarily the president follows the will of the voters. He could also call new elections after a certain number of failed coalition proposals. A compromise to leave election results intact could be to deny Paluckas the prime minister position. The only other possible coalition partner would be the Peasants/Greens Party, by Democratic Union leader Skvernelis and Peasants leader Karbauskas hold personal antipathy towards one another following Skvernelis’s schism with the latter to form his new party.