VILNIUS: Gitanas Nauseda looked set to secure a second term in office in a presidential election runoff in Lithuania on Sunday.
The Baltic nation of 2.8 million people has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russiaโs 2022 invasion. Like other countries in the region, it worries it could be Moscowโs next target.
๐ฑ๐น๐ณ๏ธ Lithuaniaโs incumbent president leads early election vote count
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(Reuters) โ Lithuaniaโs incumbent President Gitanas Nauseda held a commanding lead in the final round of the Baltic nationโs presidential election on Sunday, official data showed as vote counting continued. pic.twitter.com/QzIa9Wks8cโ PiQ (@PiQSuite) May 26, 2024
Nauseda, 60, a former senior economist with Swedish banking group SEB, is not affiliated with any party. He won the first round of the election on May 12 with 44% of the votes, short of the 50% needed for an outright victory.
Partial results with 30% of ballots counted showed Nauseda winning 82% on Sunday. Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, 49, from the ruling centre-right Homeland Union party followed him. Simonyte was the only woman out of eight candidates in the first round. She came second with 20%.
An ELTA/Baltijos Tyrimai poll showed just over half of Lithuanians believe a Russian attack is possible or even very likely. Russia has regularly dismissed concerns that it might attack a NATO member.
Nauseda told a debate on Tuesday he sees Russia as an enemy.
โOur enemies โ who even call themselves our enemies, who are enemies of us and all the democratic world โ are attempting to destabilise our politics, and we must do all to resist.โ
Both candidates support raising Lithuaniaโs defense spending to minimum 3% of GDP from 2.75%.
(REUTERS)