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Presidential election in Lithuania – Nauseda the clear favorite
Lithuanian presidential candidate Gitanas Nauseda casts his vote at a polling station in Vilnius. photo
© Mindaugas Kulbis/AP/dpa
Gitanas Nauseda has been at the head of state of the German NATO partner Lithuania since 2019. He is now seeking a second term in office and is the clear favorite for re-election.
According to the electoral commission in Vilnius, over 59 percent of the almost 2.4 million eligible voters had cast their votes by the time the polls closed. This is the highest turnout in the first round of the presidential election since 1997.
Nauseda: Determined supporter of Ukraine
Nauseda is a staunch supporter of Russia-attacked Ukraine. He also made a name for himself internationally as a committed representative of the interests of his home country, which is particularly exposed in the geopolitical confrontation with Russia due to its location on NATO’s eastern flank. Germany therefore wants to permanently station a combat-ready brigade with up to 5,000 German soldiers in the Baltic state.
After casting his vote in the capital Vilnius, Nauseda said he had voted “for stability, reliability and continuity.” In surveys before the election, the independent politician was clearly ahead of his competitors, among whom there is only one woman, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte. However, he is unlikely to achieve an absolute majority in the first round of voting.
According to Nauseda’s predecessor, Dalia Grybauskaite, current geopolitical challenges will remain the leitmotif for the next president’s five-year term: security for Lithuania, the region and Europe, as well as the protection and defense of democracy. At the same time as the presidential election, a referendum on the introduction of dual citizenship took place.