Lithuanian president doubts that new ruling majority will last full term

VILNIUS - Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda doubts that the country's new ruling majority, formed on Monday and including the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, the Dawn of the Nemunas and the Democrats "For Lithuania", will be able to serve the full four-year term.

"It would be very difficult to imagine that, unless one of the members of this coalition manages to impressively improve their reputation and becomes a respectable member of the coalition," Nauseda told TV3's In Focus with Edmundas Jakilaitis on Monday.

The LSDU and the Democrats have come under fire for their decision to work with the Dawn of the Nemunas party led by Remigijus Zemaitaitis who is on trial for inciting hatred against Jews.

The Social Democrats say their wish to have a sustainable majority in the Seimas was behind the decision as the three-party coalition will have 86 votes in the 141-seat Seimas.

However, Nauseda warned on Monday that the seemingly large majority "should not be misleading and should not suggest that we are talking about a stable coalition".

"This coalition will face many challenges over the next few weeks already, so there would be no reason to talk about a very high degree of stability of this coalition," the president said on Monday.

Earlier in the day, the president said he would not members of the Dawn of the Nemunas as ministers in the future government, although the coalition agreement gives it the Ministries of Agriculture, Environment and Justice.

According to the president, the inclusion of representatives of this party in the government would risk isolating Lithuania abroad, which would prevent it from pursuing a successful foreign policy.

The new Seimas will be sworn in on Thursday.