Lithuania’s Central Electoral Commission (VRK) on Thursday registered the first three presidential candidates: incumbent Gitanas Nausėda, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, and Dainius Žalimas, law professor and former Constitutional Court chair.
The registration means that the candidates meet the requirements for a candidate, have submitted the necessary documents, have paid the election deposit, and have collected at least 20,000 signatures of voters supporting them.
The VRK must register all presidential candidates by April 11 and publish their names on its website on April 12.
Initially, there were a total of 15 contenders to run for president in Lithuania but some of them later changed their minds or withdrew from the race after they failed to collect the necessary number of voter signatures.
The VRK has yet to decide on the registration as candidates of Giedrimas Jeglinskas, former NATO assistant secretary general for executive management, Labour Party leader Andrius Mazuronis, a doctor Eduardas Vaitkus, a lawyer Ignas Vėgėlė, and MP Remigijus Žemaitaitis.
The VRK has asked the Lithuanian Centre for Legal Expertise to assess the voter signatures collected by Mazuronis and Žemaitaitis. The commission has suspicions that some of the signatures collected on paper by the two candidates were forged.
“As for Mazuronis and Žemaitis, a visual check raised doubts that signatures were possibly signed with one hand,” said VRK Chair Lina Petronienė.
The VRK expects to receive the handwriting experts’ assessment later this week.
The first round of the presidential election will take place in Lithuania on May 12.
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