The current president will now go to a second round against his rival Ingrida Simonyte on May 26, as in 2019.
Incumbent Gitanas Nauseda won the first round of voting in Lithuania's presidential election, putting him on track for a second and final term.
With almost all the votes counted, former banker Nauseda won 46 percent, just shy of the overall majority needed for a first-round victory.
Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte came second with 16 percent and the two will now face off in a second round on May 26, a repeat of the last election in 2019.
This time eight candidates were on the ballot, with campaigns mainly focused on security issues and the threat posed by neighboring Russia following its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. All the main candidates agreed that the country, which Once part of the Soviet Union and now a member of NATO and the European Union, it should increase defense spending to counter the perceived threat on its borders.
Nauseda, 59, said he was confident of victory in the second round and would not need “any strategy” to campaign against Simonyte.
Both Nauseda and Simonyte support increasing defense spending to at least 3 percent of Lithuania's gross domestic product (GDP), from the 2.75 percent planned for this year. The increased spending would allow financing the modernization of Lithuania's army and infrastructure ahead of the deployment of a brigade of German troops to Lithuania expected to be combat ready from 2027.
General elections are coming
While they agree on policy toward Russia, the two candidates differ on other issues such as same-sex civil unions, a controversial policy in the predominantly Catholic country with a population of 2.8 million people.
While Nauseda opposes such partnerships, Simonyte, a 49-year-old fiscal conservative, supports them.
The president of Lithuania has a semi-executive role, which includes leading the armed forces and chairing the supreme body for defense and national security policy. The president also represents the country at EU and NATO summits.
Together with the government, the president sets foreign and security policy, can veto laws, and has a say in the appointment of key officials such as judges, the chief prosecutor, the defense chief, and the head of the central bank.
In 2019, Simonyte narrowly defeated Nauseda in the first round of the presidential election before Nauseda won the runoff with 66 percent of the vote.
Simonyte also faces a tough test in October's general election as his coalition of centre-right parties trails in the polls.
Nauseda posed for cameras on election night surrounded by leaders of the Social Democrats, Simonyte's main rivals in the general election.
“I think it will be easy for us to find common ground,” he said of the possibility of the Social Democrats winning.
