Gitanas Nausėda re-elected President of Lithuania

In Lithuania, the current president of the country, Gitanas Nausėda, won the second round of the presidential election. According to the main election commission of Lithuania, he received 74.43% of the votes. His rival, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, received 24% of the vote. The voter turnout was 49.6%.

60-year-old Gitanas Nausėda has led Lithuania since July 2019. This term will be his second and last. According to the Constitution of Lithuania, the president cannot be elected more than twice in a row.

Nausėda thanked the Lithuanian people for the trust they placed in him. “I understand perfectly well that I will have to value this credit of trust,” he said, speaking to reporters.

The president-elect promised to continue Lithuania's current foreign policy course and expressed hope that the country would benefit even more from cooperation with the European Union and NATO .

The main powers of the President of Lithuania lie in the field of foreign and security policy. The main topic of the presidential race was Russia's war against Ukraine and its consequences for the national security of Lithuania. Both candidates advocate full support for Ukraine in the war with Russia and strengthening NATO.

Nauseda made a name for himself as a strong supporter of Ukraine's defense against Russian aggression.

“Let’s not have any illusions that Vladimir Putin is ready for some kind of peace negotiations,” Nauseda told reporters after the first round of elections. “There is simply no other way to stop this other than to effectively support Ukraine, the main thing is to do it quickly.”

Ingrida Simonyte congratulated Gitanas Nausėda on his victory. They have already reached the second round of voting in the 2019 presidential election. Then Nausėda won by a significant margin, gaining about 66% of the vote.

Commenting on the preliminary results of this year's voting, Nausėda said that he is now in a better position than in the last elections. Simonyte said reaching the second round was her main goal at this stage of the election.