Updated 04.35 | Published 04.15
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fullscreen Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda awaits the results of the first round of the presidential election. Photo: Mindaugas Kulbis
Preliminary results from Sunday’s presidential election in Lithuania show that there will be a second round in two weeks between current President Gitanas Nauseda and incumbent Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.
Nauseda, when 1,889 out of 1,895 districts were counted, had received 44.2 percent of the vote while Simonyte received 19.7 percent, according to the country’s electoral system.
Nauseda thus does not seem to reach the 50 percent of votes required for a win in the first round.
High on the agenda in the election is the war in Ukraine and all the top candidates have agreed that Lithuania must increase its defense spending in response to an increasingly hostile neighbor in Russia.
The main task of the President of Lithuania is to oversee the foreign and security policy. The president is also commander-in-chief – something that gives weight to the post in a relatively small country given its strategic location on NATO’s eastern flank as tensions between Russia and the West rise.
The next round of elections takes place on May 26.