Presidential elections were held in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

on 12 May 2019, with a second round held on 26 May 2019. Due to a constitutional limit of two terms in office, incumbent president Dalia Grybauskaitė was unable to run, having won the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and 2014 elections. As no candidate obtained 50% of the vote in the first round, a second round was held between the top two candidates, Ingrida Šimonytė and Gitanas Nausėda. Nausėda was elected with 67% of the vote and was inaugurated as President of Lithuania on 12 July.

Electoral system

The elections were held using the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

. To win in the first round, a candidate required an absolute majority of the vote and either voter turnout to be above 50% or for their vote share to be equivalent to at least one-third of the number of registered voters. If no candidate wins in the first round, a second round is required, featuring the top two candidates.

Candidates

Approved candidates

* Naglis Puteikis, MP, Chairman of the Lithuanian Centre Party. * Valentinas Mazuronis, MEP, former Minister of Environment. Independent. * Gitanas Nausėda, economist, lecturer. Independent. * Arvydas Juozaitis, philosopher, former Olympic athlete. Independent. * Ingrida Šimonytė, MP, former deputy chairwoman of the Board of the

Bank of Lithuania The Bank of Lithuania () is the national central bank for Lithuania within the Eurosystem. It was the Lithuanian central bank from 1922 to 2014, albeit with a long suspension between 1940 and 1993. It issued the Lithuanian litas between 1922 ...

(2013–2016), former Minister of Finance (2009–2012). Independent, nominated by the Homeland Union. * Vytenis Andriukaitis, Lithuania's European Commissioner, former Minister of Health (2012–2014), and a co-signatory to the 1990

Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania The Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania or Act of 11 March () was an Declaration of independence, independence declaration by Lithuania adopted on 11 March 1990, signed by all members of the Supreme Council – Reconstituent Se ...

. Nominated by the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania. * Saulius Skvernelis,

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

since 2016, former Minister of Interior (2014–2016) Independent, nominated by the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and the Social Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania. * Mindaugas Puidokas, MP. Independent. * Valdemar Tomaševski, MEP, Chairman of Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania.

Declined candidates

* Žygimantas Pavilionis, MP, former Ambassador of Lithuania to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

* Vygaudas Ušackas, former EU Ambassador to Russia. Lost TS-LKD primaries. * Aušra Maldeikienė, MP * Visvaldas Matijošaitis, Mayor of

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

*Vitas Gudiškis, former President of Ice Hockey Federation of Lithuania * Petras Auštrevičius, MEP *Alfonsas Butė, Deputy Chairman of the . *Kazimieras Juraitis, * Petras Gražulis, MP

Opinion polls

First round

Results

The first round was narrowly won by former Finance Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, with economist Gitanas Nausėda finishing second. As neither candidate passed the threshold of 50% of votes cast, a run-off was held between Šimonytė and Nausėda on 26 May. Nausėda won the second round with over 66% of the vote. After finishing a distant third, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis announced his intention to resign on election night, with his resignation coming into effect on 12 July. Later, it was revealed that Skvernelis will continue his tenure as the Prime Minister until the next election of the Parliament.

Notes

References

{{Lithuanian elections

Presidential

Presidential elections in Lithuania