2009 Lithuanian presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Lithuania on 17 May 2009. A run-off would have been held on 7 June 2009,[1] but was not necessary as Dalia Grybauskaitė was elected with 69 percent of the vote, with voter turnout just over the 50% threshold for the result to be validated.[2] She took office on 12 July as the country's first female president.

2009 Lithuanian presidential election

17 May 2009

Nominee Dalia Grybauskaitė Algirdas Butkevičius Party Independent Social Democratic Popular vote 950,407 162,665 Percentage 69.1% 11.8%   Nominee Valentinas Mazuronis Valdemar Tomaševski Party Order and Justice AWPL Popular vote 84,656 65,255 Percentage 6.15% 4.74%

President before election Valdas Adamkus Independent Elected President Dalia Grybauskaitė Independent

This was only the second time since the restoration of independence that a Lithuanian president was elected without the need for a runoff, the first being in 1993, when Algirdas Brazauskas was elected with 61 percent in the first round.

Candidates

The Electoral Commission registered 14 candidates for the elections, whilst Vladimir Romanov's application was rejected. However, six candidates (Jonas Jankauskas, Vytautas Kundrotas, Algimantas Matulevičius, Algirdas Pilvelis, Vidmantas Sadauskas and Zigmas Vaišvila) failed to collect the 20,000 signatures required, and Seimas Speaker Arūnas Valinskas (National Resurrection Party) withdrew his candidacy.[3]

Seven candidates collected enough signatures to participate in the elections:

• Dalia Grybauskaitė, incumbent European Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget, former Minister of Finance (2001–2004)
• Valentinas Mazuronis (Order and Justice), member of the Seimas since 2004
• Kazimiera Prunskienė, first Prime Minister of Lithuania (1990–1991) and former Minister of Agriculture (2004–2008)
• Česlovas Jezerskas, Brigadier General of Lithuanian Armed Forces and wrestler
• Valdemar Tomaševski (Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania), member of the Seimas since 2000
• Loreta Graužinienė (Labour Party), member of the Seimas since 2004
• Algirdas Butkevičius (Social Democratic Party), former Minister of Finance (2004–2005) and former Minister of Transport and Communications (2006–2008)

Opinion polls

According to the opinion polls, Grybauskaitė was the undisputed leader in the race for the Presidency.[4][5]

Results

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Dalia Grybauskaitė	Independent	950,407	69.09
	Algirdas Butkevičius	Social Democratic Party of Lithuania	162,665	11.82
	Valentinas Mazuronis	Order and Justice	84,656	6.15
	Valdemar Tomaševski	Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania	65,255	4.74
	Kazimira Prunskienė	Lithuanian Peasant Popular Union	53,778	3.91
	Loreta Graužinienė	Labour Party	49,686	3.61
	Česlovas Jezerskas	Independent	9,191	0.67
Invalid votes			17,640	–
Total			1,393,278	100
Registered voters/turnout			2,691,603	51.76
Source: Central Election Commission

References

1. Usackas pulls out of presidential race Baltic Times, 17 February 2009
2. Lithuania gets first woman leader BBC News, 18 May 2009
3. A.Valinskui mesti kaltinimai dėl parašų klastojimo sudomino ir Generalinę prokuratūrą (2 video, dar papildyta) Lrytas, 31 August 2009
4. Po D.Grybauskaitės apsisprendimo politologai nemato jai konkurencijos Lrytas, 26 February 2009
5. Grybauskaite is Favourite Contender in Lithuania Angus Reid Public Opinion, 11 March 2009

External links

• 2009 Lithuanian presidential elections VRK (in Lithuanian)