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Lithuania: Runoff election for president begins
Lithuanian presidential candidate Gitanas Nauseda during his vote at a polling station. Photo
© Mindaugas Kulbis/AP/dpa
The runoff election for the presidency began in Lithuania on . Around 2.4 million eligible voters are called upon to elect the head of state of the Baltic EU and NATO country for the next five years.
In the duel for the highest state office in the Baltic Sea state in the northeast Europe’s favorite incumbent Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte will compete against each other – as in the previous presidential election. The polling stations close at 8 p.m. local time (7 p.m. CEST). Significant results are expected on Monday night.
Nauseda clearly won the first round of voting on May 12, but did not achieve the necessary absolute majority. The 60-year-old economist has been at the helm of the Baltic state, which borders the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad and Russia’s close ally Belarus, since 2019. He has made a name for himself as a determined supporter of Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia.
Topics of the election campaign
The focus of the election campaign was Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its effects on national security, as well as socio-political issues. In Lithuania, the head of state has primarily representative duties, but in comparison to the German Federal President, he has more extensive powers in foreign and defense policy. Lithuania will be the focus of the Bundeswehr’s military engagement in the coming years. In response to the changed security situation in Europe and Russia’s aggressive behavior, the German government has promised to permanently station a combat-ready brigade with up to 5,000 German soldiers in the Baltic state.
Lithuanian Election Commission