Just like last time, Gitanas Nausėda and Ingrida Šimonytė will face each other in the second round of Lithuania’s presidential election on May 26.
With almost all votes counted, Nausėda received just over 44 percent of the vote in the first round of voting on Sunday, and Šimonytė garnered nearly 20 percent.
“Yes, I wanted to win in the first round, but apparently we’ll have the runoff. I am ready to make a strong push for victory in the runoff and I think I will succeed in doing so,” Nausėda told reporters on Sunday night.
“My key goal was probably to make it to the runoff and I think I have achieved it,” Šimonytė told reporters.
In 2019, the two rivals were more evenly positioned as they both got around 31 percent of the vote in the first round of voting.
In Sunday’s first round, Nausėda, who is seeking re-election for a second term, got more than 50 percent of the vote in almost all municipalities except Vilnius, where Šimonytė won, and Šalčininkai and Visaginas, where Eduardas Vaitkus, a medical doctor, scored victory.
This year, eight politicians were running for president.
According to the latest figures from the Central Electoral Commission (VRK), lawyer Ignas Vėgėlė came third nationwide with 12 percent, followed by Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of the Dawn of the Nemunas party, with 9 percent, Vaitkus with 7 percent, lawyer Dainius Žalimas with 3 percent, Labour Party leader MP Andrius Mazuronis with 1.4 percent, and former vice minister of defence Giedrimas Jeglinskas with 1.35 percent.
Nausėda: The result is good
“I would like to thank the people of Lithuania, who have expressed their trust in me after five really difficult years that we have lived together, when even in the face of very serious problems, critical challenges, we still thought about the future,” said Nausėda at a media conference on Monday morning.
He said Lithuania has achieved a lot in the last 20 years and is moving towards Western standards of living, although inequality is still too high.
“Every person in Lithuania is important to me, and I have confirmed this by my regular visits to various regions of Lithuania,” said Nausėda.
On Sunday, while awaiting the results of the elections, the president hinted at the possibility of winning the election in the first round, but later conceded he would have to face the runoff.
“Look at how many leaders are elected in first rounds in other countries in the European Union or in the world in general. I’m not talking about the ones where presidents are elected by 98% or so. This is indeed a difficult time, it is a time when politicians have to face very serious challenges.
“I tried to do it with integrity, I never let my head drop, I always thought ahead. I think the result is really very good. Therefore, as they say, let us not be chasing God into the tree, the result is good. Once you have bounced back, you have to move on,” the president said.
Šimonytė: This is not like 2019
The conservative candidate thanked the voters who turned out for the presidential elections and the referendum.
Šimonytė said that the results show that a large part of the population, who chose her in the 2020 Seimas elections, showed that they still trusted her and preferred the vision of Lithuania she presented.
“[I thank] those who have expressed their confidence in me after a short term as head of government, and considering what that term has been like, how many different challenges we faced and how many different problems we had to solve. [...] I have probably managed not to waste it [the confidence],” the candidate said on Monday morning.
“However, I have managed to achieve that people who vote for a western Lithuania, where there is no place for conspiracy theories, homophobia, or any other things that are no credit to us, things that do not correspond to the principles of liberal democracy, will definitely have someone to vote for in the second round,” Šimonytė said.
She said she did not see any reason to compare the current situation with 2019, because she was not in government back weighed down by various commitments and judgements. Therefore, Šimonytė said she does not make much of the fact that she received fewer votes this time than five years ago.
Vėgėlė: Changing ‘the system’ is hard for outsiders
Lawyer Ignas Vėgėlė, who came third in the first round of voting of the presidential election, says he failed to make it into the runoff because of the distribution of votes among the candidates who wanted change in the system and the fact that he has no political background.
“Any attempt to get into the political system without being part of it, without being a politician, […] is actually hard with a certain limited electorate,” Vėgėlė told a press conference on Monday.
“Unfortunately, the vote was divided among us, those people who wanted changes in the system, and the political system will remain as it has been,” he added.
According to non-final results from the Central Electoral Commission, 12.37 percent voted for Vėgėlė on Sunday and he came in third.
He said he plans to make up his mind on his further political career at the beginning of the summer, adding that he has not yet agreed with the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, which backed him presidential bid, on whether he will lead the party’s list in the upcoming Seimas elections in October.
The lawyer also called Sunday’s election non-transparent because of the absence of OSCE observers.
“We are becoming like Russia. In Russia, too, the OSCE was not present during this year’s election. We are similar in some ways, but our arguments are completely different,” he added.
The OSCE earlier said it would not send observers to Lithuania because the Foreign Ministry refused to allow Russian and Belarusian representatives to be in the delegation.
Vėgėlė also says he is still mulling to go to court over a recent reports by the investigative journalism centre Siena and its partners. One of them claimed that Gree, a Chinese state-controlled corporation, is one of the suppliers for companies owned by Vėgėlė’s family, Vilpra.
Another investigation alleges that Vilpra exported air conditioners to Kyrgyzstan in circumvention of the EU’s sanctions on Russia and Belarus.
Vėgėlė has called this investigation politically motivated.
Further reading
Updates from election day:
Voting booths opened at 07:00 on Sunday and closed at 20:00.
Eight candidates were vying for the presidency. Gitanas Nausėda, the incumbent, is leading in the opinion polls. Two other candidates – Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė and lawyer Ignas Vėgėlė – are behind him. If there is a runoff vote, one of them is likely to face Nausėda.
The other candidates are Giedrimas Jeglinskas, Andrius Mazuronis, Eduardas Vaitkus, Dainius Žalimas, and Remigijus Žemaitaitis.
To win the presidency, a candidate must get at least 50 percent of the vote. If no one clears the hurdle this Sunday, a runoff between two leading candidates will be held in two weeks, on May 26.
At the same time, citizens are voting in a referendum on amending the constitution to allow dual citizenship. They will be asked whether to change Article 12 that says Lithuanian citizens cannot be at the same time citizens of another state. Here is our explainer about the citizenship referendum.
For the referendum to be valid, at least 50 percent of voters must vote. However, the hurdle for adopting the proposed amendment to the constitution is a high one: at least 50 percent of all eligible voters – and not just those who have voted – must say “yes”.
According to the Central Electoral Commission (VRK), 2,385,234 people are on the voter list. Around 400,000 live abroad and can vote by mail or in person at Lithuania’s diplomatic representations.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
