Lithuania’s Gitanas Nauseda declares victory in presidential election | Elections Information

Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte conceded defeat within the remaining spherical of the Baltic nation’s presidential election.

Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda has declared victory within the remaining spherical of the Baltic nation’s presidential election, as partial outcomes confirmed him far forward within the two-way race towards Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.

Ballots from almost 90 % of polling stations on Sunday confirmed Nauseda, 60, successful roughly three-quarters of the vote, adopted by Simonyte, 49, from the ruling centre-right Homeland Union get together.

Simonyte conceded defeat in feedback to reporters and congratulated Nauseda.

That is the second time Nauseda and Simonyte have competed in a presidential run-off election. In 2019, Nauseda beat Simonyte with 66 % of the vote.

As president, Nauseda has a semi-executive position, which incorporates heading the armed forces, chairing the defence and nationwide safety coverage physique and representing the nation at NATO and European Union summits.

The previous senior economist with the Swedish banking group SEB, who isn’t affiliated with any get together, received the primary spherical of the election on Could 12 with 44 % of the votes, wanting the 50 % he wanted for an outright victory.

Simonyte was the one girl out of eight candidates within the first spherical and got here second with 20 %.

Each Nauseda and Simonyte help growing defence spending to at the least 3 % of Lithuania’s gross home product, from the two.75 % deliberate for this 12 months, within the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Like different Baltic nations, Lithuania worries it might be Moscow’s subsequent goal. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has mentioned he has no intention of attacking any NATO international locations.

The uneasy relationship between Nauseda and Simonyte has additionally caught the limelight in overseas coverage debates, most notably on Lithuania’s relations with China.

Bilateral ties turned tense in 2021, when Vilnius allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy beneath the island’s identify, a departure from the frequent diplomatic observe of utilizing the identify of the capital, Taipei, to keep away from angering Beijing.

China, which considers self-ruled Taiwan part of its territory, downgraded diplomatic relations with Vilnius and blocked its exports, main some Lithuanian politicians to induce a restoration of relations for the sake of the financial system.