| Dawn of Nemunas | |
| Native Name: | Nemuno aušra |
| Abbreviation: | NA |
| Chairperson: | Remigijus Žemaitaitis[1] |
| Founder: | Remigijus Žemaitaitis |
| Split: | Freedom and Justice |
| Membership Year: | 2024 |
| Membership: | 2,296 |
| Ideology: | Populism[2] Regionalism[3] Classical liberalism[4] |
| Position: | Centre-left[5] [6] [7] |
| Colours: | Orange Brown |
| Seats1 Title: | Seimas |
| Country: | Lithuania |
The Dawn of Nemunas (Lithuanian: Nemuno aušra) is a Lithuanian political party founded by Remigijus Žemaitaitis after his expulsion from the Freedom and Justice party due to his antisemitic statements. The party was founded in November 2023 and registered in January 2024. The party was joined by two MPs who defected from the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and Labour Party in June 2024, increasing its representation in the Seimas to three seats.
The party is considered centre-left,[5] and mainly attract left-wing voters. It is also considered a very populist and personalist party, and the antisemitic remarks of the party's leader, Remigijus Žemaitaitis, render the party controversial.[6] The Dawn of Nemunas proposes a creation of a state-bank and a road fund, as well as nationalization of shares of state-owned companies, preventing private share ownership of state enterprises. The party also advocates tax breaks for large families, pensions reform, and pledges to not increase consumption tax. It seeks a coalition with Social Democrats and ruled out coalition with conservative parties.
In May 2023, Remigijus Žemaitaitis published antisemitic comments on Facebook, in which he claimed that “the Jews and Russians” oppressed ethnic Lithuanians during the Second World War and were responsible for the 1944 massacre of the village of Pirčiupiai.[8] The comments were received with harsh criticism and condemnation from Lithuanian politicians, the Lithuanian Jewish community and numerous ambassadors to Lithuania. The office of the Prosecutor General launched an ongoing investigation to Žemaitaitis' actions.[9] On 19 May 2023 Freedom and Justice terminated Žemaitaitis's membership in the party, and Artūras Paulauskas became the party's interim chairman.[10]
On 11 November 2023, Remigijus Žemaitaitis announced the creation of a political party under the name Dawn of Nemunas.[11] [12] [13] He also said that his party plans to take part in all elections held in 2024 and nominate its own presidential candidate. Earlier, Žemaitaitis said that he had gathered more than 3,000 people to create the party.[14] He also claimed that most of the Freedom and Justice faction will join the new political force.[12]
The party was registered on 16 January 2024. The party had 2,296 inaugural members during the registration.[15] Shortly before the registration, Lithuanian Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė asked the parliament to strip Žemaitaitis of his legal immunity, stating that the pre-trial investigation suggests that Žemaitaitis “publicly ridiculed, expressed contempt for, and incited hatred against a group of people of Jewish nationality”.[16]
Agnė Širinskienė, former member of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, and Aidas Gedvilas and Artūras Skardžius, formerly from the Labour Party, joined Dawn of Nemunas on 19 June 2024. With Žemaitaitis' previous resignation from parliament, this increased the party's representation to 3 Members of the Seimas.[17]
In July 2024, the party's popularity peaked as polls showed that about 36.5% of voters would consider voting for the party. The party attracted largely centre-left voters, as well as a minority of the Liberals' Movement supporters.[18] In August, Žemaitaitis stated that he seeks to join a centre-left coalition led by the Social Democrats, and ruled out a coalition with "non-systemic" political partes.[7] He also ruled out a coalition with a conservative party. In August, the party's polling stabilized to over 10% of the popular vote, overtaking the ruling conservative Homeland Union.[19]
Dawn of Nemunas describes itself as a centre-left,[20] classical liberal and Christian party. It has been described as populist.[21] It supports the establishment of a state-owned bank and a road fund, granting tax breaks to large families, taking state control of the shares of state-owned energy holding company Ignitis, halting reforms in education for 4 years and auditing the reorganization of the network of schools and health care institutions. It pledges to not raise value added taxes to finance national defense.
In its political program, the Dawn of Nemunas proposes an expansion of the Lithuanian social benefits. It advocates tax benefits to large families, facilitation of withdrawals from the second pension pillars (in favor of completely state-funded pensions), and pledges to never raise consumption taxes to finance the defence forces. The party also seeks a freeze of any tax changes for two years, and a creation of a state bank "Vytis" as well as a state road fund. Along with taking state control of Ignitis' shares, the party also proposes to "delist" stock shares of state companies, making it possible for only the state to buy shares in them. The party rules out a coalition with conservative parties, and instead envisions a centre-left coalition with the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania.[22]
The party is considered centre-left,[5] and seeks to form a coalition with other centre-left forces while ruling out participating in a conservative coalition.[22] Most of its supporters were also found to be left-wing and to come from left-leaning parties such as the Social Democrats, the Labour Party, Lithuanian Regions Party, the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union as well as the Union of Democrats "For Lithuania". Political scientist Virgis Valentinavičius considers the party "super-populist" and commenting on the antisemitism of the leader, stated: "Žemaitaitis models himself as the heir of the Lithuanian Jews. He uses a word like "parasites" when he talks about Jews and about Israel. This is a classic of antisemitism. It is quite clear that he does this deliberately."[6]