The pro-European President of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda was triumphantly re-elected on Sunday in the second round of the presidential election, facing his Prime Minister and rival Ingrida Simonyte who admitted her defeat.
After counting 96% of the ballots, Gitanas Nauseda, a 60-year-old former center-right banker, won 74.6% of the votes, according to the Electoral Commission, ensuring him a second five-year term at the head of the Baltic country. The participation rate was 49.61%.
The vote was held while this country of 2.8 million inhabitants, member of the EU and NATO, feels threatened by neighboring Russia, strongly criticized by Gitanas Nauseda who has established himself as a fervent defender of Ukraine.
The Lithuanian people “entrusted me with a great mandate of trust and I am well aware that I will have to cherish this credit of trust”, Gitanas Nauseda told the press in Vilnius. “Now that I have five years of experience, I think I will definitely be able to use this gem correctly, first of all to achieve the welfare goals for all residents of Lithuania,” he said. he adds. Conservative Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, 49, who was running for the second time against Gitanas Nauseda but obtained less than a quarter of the vote, admitted defeat and said she “congratulates the elected president of Lithuania”.
Congratulations from Zelensky
During its first term, Lithuania has welcomed tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees since the Russian invasion began on February 24, 2022. According to the Kiel Institute, based in Germany, the country ranks in the top three of donors to the war-torn country, as a percentage of GDP.
Lithuania fears it will be Russia’s next target if it wins the war against Ukraine, and Gitanas Nauseda is a vocal critic of the Kremlin. “The hatred fueled by Russia threatens our world order. It threatens every one of us,” he said on the second anniversary of the Russian invasion in February. “With the re-election of Gitanas Nauseda, we will see continuity in foreign and security policy, areas in which the president will try to remain active,” university political analyst Mykolas Romeris told AFP.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was one of the first to congratulate his counterpart. “You have been by our side every day and night during these very difficult years,” he wrote on the social network that by working together we will guarantee freedom, peace and security in Ukraine, the Baltic States and throughout Europe,” he added.
Defense spending on the rise
Lithuania, a former Soviet republic that declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, spends 2.75% of its GDP on defense and plans to increase this rate soon, which Gitanas Nauseda supports. “Lithuania’s independence and freedom are like a fragile ship that we must cherish, protect and prevent from cracking,” the head of state told reporters on Sunday evening.
In Lithuania, the president directs defense and foreign policy and attends EU and NATO summits. But he must consult the government and parliament to appoint the highest officials. For Rafal, 40 years old, sculptor, Gitanas Nauseda is a guarantee of security and stability. “I have a small child […]so I want Lithuania to develop and be a country where life is good,” explains Rafal, 40, sculptor, who voted for Gitanas Nauseda.
Gitanas Nauseda’s critics, however, accuse him of gaining popularity by sticking to the middle ground and avoiding debates on controversial political issues.
Unlike his rival Ingrida Simonyte – economically right-wing and socially liberal – he has conservative opinions on gay rights, and has spoken out in the past against the adoption of children by couples. of the same sex. In 2023, local media revealed that he had belonged to the Communist Party in the final years before independence, between 1988 and 1990. He called this episode a “youthful mistake”.