Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda easily won re-election on Sunday with nearly three-quarters of the vote in a contest held amid rising tensions in Europe amid the conflict in Ukraine, Lithuanian media reported.
Nauseda, who will assume Lithuania’s top post in 2019, won another five-year term thanks to nearly 75 per cent of voters who cast their ballots on Sunday.
Prime Ministerial contender Ingrida Simonyte won just over 24 per cent of the vote, according to results from the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Lithuania. Voter turnout was 1.1 million, almost 50 per cent of Lithuania’s 2.4 million voters.
In his address to the country on Monday, Nauseda called his victory an endorsement of his first term in office. He said:
The trust shown to me by the people of Lithuania is a recognition of five years of work into which I have put my whole heart. It has not been easy. I have always tried to find solutions. I have tried to achieve the goals of the welfare state that I set before my first term, primarily to reduce social and regional disparities.
He continued by thanking the people of Lithuania for voting for him. Nauseda also added:
I will continue to strive for results. I will strive for our political parties to agree on the issues that are most important for Lithuania.
How the election race went
Nauseda and Simonyte reached the second round of elections after neither won more than 50 per cent of the vote in the first round of voting earlier this month to win the presidential election.
They beat six other candidates in the first round on 12 May, with the president winning almost 44% of the vote and the prime minister just over 20%.
Lithuania’s president leads defence and foreign policy, attending EU and NATO summits, but must consult with the government and parliament on the appointment of the most senior officials.
Although the candidates agree on defence, they have different views on Lithuania’s relationship with China, which has been strained for years over Taiwan.
Both candidates agree that NATO and EU members with a population of 2.8 million people should increase defence spending and to that end the government has recently proposed tax increases.
