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 Russia’s 2022 invasion. Like other countries in the region, it worries it could be Moscow’s next target.
🇱🇹🗳️ Lithuania’s incumbent president leads early election vote count

(Reuters) – Lithuania’s incumbent President Gitanas Nauseda held a commanding lead in the final round of the Baltic nation’s presidential election on Sunday, official data showed as vote counting continued. pic.twitter.com/QzIa9Wks8c— 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.
“Our enemies – who even call themselves our enemies, who are enemies of us and all the democratic world – are attempting to destabilise our politics, and we must do all to resist.”
Both candidates support raising Lithuania’s defense spending to minimum 3% of GDP from 2.75%.
(REUTERS)
