By Andrius Sytas
VILNIUS (Reuters) – Lithuania will hold presidential elections on Sunday, and incumbent President Gitanas Nauseda is expected to win after a campaign dominated by security concerns in the post-Soviet state.
The Baltic nation of 2.8 million people has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2022. Like other countries in the region, the NATO and EU member fears it could be Moscow’s next target.
Nauseda, 60, a former senior economist at the Swedish banking group SEB, who is not affiliated with any party, won the first round of elections on May 12 with 44% of the vote, less than the 50% he needed for a absolute victory.
He is running against Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, 49, from the center-right ruling União Pátria party, which has been trailing in opinion polls. She was the only woman among eight candidates in the first round and came in second with 20%.
Just over half of Lithuanians believe that a Russian attack is possible or even very likely, according to an ELTA/Baltijos Tyrimai poll carried out between February and March. Russia has regularly rejected the idea that it could attack a NATO member.
Nauseda said in a debate on Tuesday that he sees Russia as an enemy. “Our enemies – who even call themselves our enemies, who are our enemies and the enemies of the entire democratic world – are trying to destabilize our politics, and we must do everything to resist.”
Both Nauseda and Simonyte support increasing defense spending to at least 3% of Lithuania’s gross domestic product, up from the 2.75% planned for this year.
But Nauseda, who is a social conservative, has clashed with Simonyte over other issues, including the possibility of granting legal recognition to same-sex civil partnerships, which Nauseda opposes.
He said this would make such unions too similar to marriage, which Lithuania’s constitution only allows for one man and one woman.
Simonyte, a former finance minister and fiscal hawk, said on Thursday that if she won, “the direction of the country – pro-European, pro-West – would not change.”
“But I would like faster progress, more openness and understanding, greater tolerance towards people who are different from us,” he added.
The president of Lithuania plays a semi-executive role, which includes heading the armed forces, presiding over the supreme defense and national security policy body and representing the country at European Union and NATO summits.
The president defines foreign and security policy together with the government, can veto laws and has a say in the appointment of important officials, such as judges, the attorney general, the head of defense and the head of the central bank.
It will be the second time that the two compete in a presidential second round. In 2019, Nauseda beat Simonyte with 66% of the votes.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
