8 candidates to run for president of Lithuania

Lithuania’s Central Election Commission (VRK) has registered a total of eight candidates to compete in this year’s presidential election.

The VRK has verified the voter signatures collected and registered incumbent Gitanas Nausėda, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, a lawyer Ignas Vėgėlė, doctor Eduardas Vaitkus, as well as Dainius Žalimas, law professor and former Constitutional Court chair, Giedrimas Jeglinskas, former NATO assistant secretary general for executive management, Labour Party leader Andrius Mazuronis, and MP Remigijus Žemaitaitis, as presidential candidates.

A total of 12 candidates were collecting voter signatures, but Gintautas Kniukšta, Arūnas Rimkus, and Valdas Tutkus failed to collect the required 20,000 signatures and could not continue their participation in the election. Aurelijus Veryga of the Farmers and Green Union collected the required number of signatures, but his party decided to withdraw from the election and back Vėgėlė instead.

The VRK previously asked the Lithuanian Centre for Legal Expertise to assess the voter signatures collected by Mazuronis and Žemaitaitis. The commission had suspicions that some of the signatures collected on paper by the two candidates were forged.

The handwriting examination showed that not all the data on the signature collection sheet of the two candidates were filled in by the signatories themselves. However, the VRK registered Mazuronis and Žemaitaitis as candidates after counting the verified signatures.

The first round of the presidential elections will be held in Lithuania on May 12, with a potential run-off on May 26.