Presidential election in Lithuania 2019

Standard of the President

Acting President Dalia Grybauskaitė

The first round of the 2019 presidential election in Lithuania took place on May 12, 2019. The necessary runoff took place on May 26, 2019, parallel to the European elections. Two non-party candidates took part: Ingrida Šimonytė (* 1974) and Gitanas Nausėda (* 1964). Nausėda was elected president.

The President of the Republic of Lithuania is elected in direct elections by voters with Lithuanian citizenship for a period of 5 years in the constituencies. The incumbent President Dalia Grybauskaitė will leave her post as she has served for two consecutive terms.

Pretenders

The electoral commission only registers those candidates who have paid the deposit and have received the required 20,000 supporter signatures.

Possible pretenders

Seimas parliamentarian Ingrida Šimonytė collected a majority of votes in the 1st ballot (31.35%)

From 2014 to 2019, the following people were mentioned as possible candidates for president in the Lithuanian media:

• Petras Auštrevičius (* 1963), liberal politician, EP member, Vice-President of Parliament, diplomat
• Vilija Blinkevičiūtė (* 1960), lawyer and politician, former Minister of Social Affairs and EP member
• Arvydas Juozaitis (* 1956), philosopher, journalist, Olympic swimmer and politician
• Aušra Maldeikienė (* 1958), Seimas member, political economist
• Visvaldas Matijošaitis (* 1957), entrepreneur, mayor of Kaunas since 2015
• Ramūnas Karbauskis (* 1969), agricultural entrepreneur and patron, Seimas member, former Parliamentary Vice-President
• Gitanas Nausėda (* 1964), economist and professor
• Rolandas Paksas (* 1956), right-wing populist politician, former Prime Minister and President, EP member
• Artūras Paulauskas (* 1953), lawyer and politician, former attorney general and executive president
• Žygimantas Pavilionis (* 1971), diplomat, ambassador
• Mindaugas Puidokas (* 1979), KTU lecturer, LVŽS politician and Seimas member
• Naglis Puteikis (* 1964), historian, Seimas member, leader of the Lithuanian Center Party (in Lithuanian: Lietuvos centro partija )
• Arvydas Sabonis (* 1964), basketball official
• Saulius Skvernelis (* 1970), Prime Minister, former Police Commissioner and Minister of the Interior
• Remigijus Šimašius (* 1974), liberal politician, mayor of Vilnius since 2015
• Ingrida Šimonytė (* 1974), business economist and Seimas member, former finance minister (since November 2018 official candidate of the conservative party Tėvynės Sąjunga , TS-LKD)
• Waldemar Tomaszewski (* 1965), politician of the Polish minority
• Vygaudas Ušackas (* 1964), EU diplomat, former Lithuanian foreign minister (candidacy withdrawn in November 2018)
• Artūras Zuokas (* 1968), liberal politician and entrepreneur

Registered pretenders

A total of 13 people were registered as pretenders to candidates who paid the bail of 4,594 euros (monthly wage of 918.8 EUR × 5) (in brackets the number of support signatures collected by the specified deadline after the bail of candidates to the VRK authority has been paid):

• Ingrida Šimonytė , 68,100 signatures
• Gitanas Nausėda , 43,300 signatures
• Saulius Skvernelis , 37,100 signatures
• Arvydas Juozaitis , 36,400 signatures
• Vytenis Andriukaitis , 29,700 signatures
• Voldemaras Tomaševskis , 29,200 signatures
• Valentinas Mazuronis , 25,000 signatures
• Mindaugas Puidokas , 29,000 signatures
• Naglis Puteikis , 21,300 signatures

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• Petras Auštrevičius (19,552 signatures)
• Kazimieras Juraitis (* 1961), Lietuvos liaudies partija (6,500 e-signatures)
• Alfonsas Butė (* 1952), Lietuvos liaudies partija (6,000 e-signatures)
• Petras Gražulis (2,450 e-signatures)

Registered candidates

• Ingrida Šimonytė , Seimas member
• Gitanas Nausėda , bank economist
• Saulius Skvernelis , Prime Minister and Seimas member
• Arvydas Juozaitis , philosopher
• Vytenis Andriukaitis , EU Health Commissioner
• Voldemaras Tomaševskis , EU parliamentarian
• Valentinas Mazuronis , Member of the European Parliament
• Mindaugas Puidokas , Seimas member
• Naglis Puteikis , Seimas member

Election result

candidate	Political party	1st ballot		2nd ballot
		be right	%	be right	%
Ingrida Šimonytė	independent	438.754	31.35	406.389	32.09
Gitanas Nauseda	independent	436.107	31.16	843.793	66.62
Saulius Skvernelis	independent	277.928	19.86
Vytenis andriukaitis	LSDP	66,778	4.83
Arvydas Juozaitis	independent	67,539	4.72
Valdemar Tomaševski	LLRA	56,381	4.03
Mindaugas Puidokas	independent	36,345	2.6
Naglis puteikis	LCP	11,138	0.8
Valentinas Mazuronis	independent	9,138	0.65
Invalid		9,845	0.70	16,323	1.29
All in all		1,409,273	100	1,266,505	100
Number of voters and turnout		2,479,027	56.85	2,381,835	53.17
Source: VRK (100% votes) May 27, 2019

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Numatomi rinkimai ( "Anticipated elections"). Lietuvos Respublikos vyriausioji rinkimų komisija, accessed on May 12, 2019 (Lithuanian, information from the Lithuanian Electoral Commission). 
2. ↑ Vytautas Bruveris: Į Salies vadovo Posta - net Septyni Liberalų kandidatai. February 9, 2018, accessed May 12, 2019 (Lithuanian). 
3. ↑ Vytenis Radžiūnas: Apklausa: ką rinktų Lietuvos prezidentu. LRT.lt, October 3, 2017, accessed on May 12, 2019 (Lithuanian). 
4. ↑ Rūta Pukenė: A. Maldeikienė ruošiasi prezidento rinkimams: kausiuosi iki galo. delfi.lt, 2017, accessed May 12, 2019 (Lithuanian). 
5. ↑ Visvaldas Matijošaitis užsiminė apie dalyvavimą prezidento rinkimuose. lrytas.lt, September 11, 2017, accessed May 12, 2019 (Lithuanian). 
6. ↑ R. Karbauskis: Salies vadovu būti nenoriu. delfi.lt, 2016, accessed May 12, 2019 (Lithuanian). 
7. ↑ Liepa Želnienė: Antano Guogos "TonyBet" jau siūlo lažintis, ar jis Laimės Prezidento rinkimus. 15min.lt, accessed on May 12, 2019 (Lithuanian). 
8. ↑ Paksas: I will run for Lithuanian president, be it in 2014 or in 2019 ( Memento from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
9. ↑ Candidatai į prezidentus prie starto linijos nesirikiuoja (daily newspaper Lietuvos žinios )
10. ↑ Vidas Rachlevičius: Prezidentinė kampanija jau prasidėjo? December 8, 2014, accessed May 12, 2019 (Lithuanian). 
11. ↑ Pirmasis pretendentas: Puteikis sieks tapti prezidentu. February 13, 2017, Retrieved May 12, 2019 (Lithuanian). 
12. ↑ ^{a b} Tautai reikia naujo vado? Candidateų - į valias. lrytas.lt, July 20, 2012, accessed May 12, 2019 (Lithuanian). 
13. ↑ Rimvydas Valatka: Kitas premjeras ir kitas prezidentas - tas pats S. Skvernelis? www.DELFI.lt, 2015, accessed on May 12, 2019 (Lithuanian). 
14. ^ Romualdas Bakutis: Romualdas Bakutis Kas taps prezidentės įpėdiniu? Alfa.lt, August 3, 2015, accessed May 12, 2019 (Lithuanian). 
15. ^ Ingrida Šimonytė: "Tai turbūt yra mano politinio kelio pabaiga". lrytas.lt, July 11, 2017, accessed May 12, 2019 (Lithuanian). 
16. ↑ Linas Jegelevičius, Justinas Šuliokas: EU ambassador to Moscow: “I'm not in the business of prophecies”. Delfi Internet portal , March 20, 2015, accessed on May 12, 2019 . 
17. ↑ Mayor Zuokas says he will run for president in 2019. Elta EN, March 16, 2015, accessed on May 12, 2019 . 
18. ↑ Oficialiame kandidatų sąraše