Presidential elections were held in Lithuania on 12 May 2024, alongside a referendum on allowing multiple citizenships. Incumbent President Gitanas Nausėda won re-election to a second term. When candidate registrations closed before the election, the Lithuanian Central Election Commission had confirmed fifteen viable registrations; of those, twelve proceeded to collect signatures from the minimum 20,000 voters. Four of those contenders were later repudiated or dropped out, leaving eight on the ballot.
A second round was held on 26 May as no candidate received an absolute majority in the first round. This saw Nausėda and Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė facing off in the runoff, a rematch of the 2019 election in which Nausėda had defeated Šimonytė. Nausėda won re-election, defeating Šimonytė in a second-round landslide with 75% of the vote – the largest margin of victory in a free election for any presidential candidate in the history of Lithuania.
Background
The Lithuanian president has somewhat more executive authority than their counterparts in neighboring Estonia and Latvia; the Lithuanian president's function is similar to that of the presidents of France and Romania. Similarly to them, but unlike presidents in a fully presidential system such as the United States, the Lithuanian president generally has the most authority in foreign affairs. In addition to the customary diplomatic powers of heads of state, namely receiving the letters of credence of foreign ambassadors and signing treaties, the president determines Lithuania's basic foreign policy guidelines. The president is also the commander-in-chief of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, and accordingly heads the State Defense Council and has the right to appoint the Chief of Defence (subject to Seimas consent).
The president has a significant role in domestic policy, possessing the right to submit bills to the Seimas and to veto laws passed by it, appointing the prime minister and approving the government formed by them, and also having the right to dissolve the Seimas and call snap elections following a successful motion of no confidence or if the Seimas refuses to approve the government's budget within sixty days. However, the next elected Seimas may retaliate by calling for an earlier presidential election. In addition, according to a resolution by the Constitutional Court of Lithuania in 1998, the president is required by law to nominate the candidate of the parliamentary majority to the office of prime minister.
The president also holds informal power, as the office of president is generally more trusted by the populace according to approval polling, and Lithuanian presidents historically blocked legislation and forced the resignation of prime ministers (such as Gediminas Vagnorius in 1998).
Electoral system
The president is elected using the two-round system. To win in the first round, a candidate requires an absolute majority of all votes cast (including invalid votes) 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. All candidates for president are independent. While some candidates belong to and/or are supported by a political party, the office of the president is formally non-partisan.
Citizens of Lithuania at least 40 years of age whose at least one parent was also a citizen (natural-born-citizen clause), who have lived in Lithuania for at least three years prior, are not serving a prison sentence, are not on active duty in the Lithuanian Armed Forces, are not bound to any other country by an oath and have never been impeached, are allowed to run for president. Each candidate must collect at least 20 thousand signatures by Lithuanian citizens to be able to run for election.
Candidates
All pre-registered candidates were required to finalize the registration procedure by 8 March 2024, in order to commence the collection of signatures for the confirmation of their candidacy. Ten out of 15 candidates completed this before the start of the procurement phase. Two candidates managed to resolve it afterwards. Three other aspirants chose against launching a presidential bid or were eliminated due to the failure to complete the procedure before the deadline.
All declared candidates for president had to gather 20,000 signatures physically or online in order to be registered and present them by 28 March 2024 at 17:00 EET. Four failed or dropped out in the process, so the following eight candidates appeared on the ballot on 12 May.
Withdrawn candidates
Registered
These individuals registered to run in the elections, but withdrew from the race before the first ballot. Candidates that withdrew until 2 April 2024 are eliglible to have their deposit refunded. They are also required to empty their campaign fund by refunding any remaining donations.
Pre-registered
Until 19 February 2024, any eligible citizen had the opportunity to freely register for the upcoming election and start receiving campaign donations. However, the period solely served as a declaration to run and does not grant the permit to commence the collection of signatures of support. Every declared candidate must complete registration by 8 March 2024, which includes payment of the €8,995 election deposit.
Candidates that failed registration
Andrej Deivis Ginevičas, Antanas Kandrotas, Irma Gajauskaitė, and Jonas Jankauskas were denied formal registration as candidates due to their failure to provide all relevant documents during the registration process.
Petras Gražulis was denied registration as a candidate due to his ineligibility for the office, as he had been impeached by the Seimas in 2023.
Potential candidates
These individuals either considered a presidential bid or were proposed as potential candidates during the campaign.
Campaign
Incumbent President Gitanas Nausėda sought re-election against a range of opponents including Ingrida Šimonytė, his runoff challenger in the 2019 Lithuanian presidential election and incumbent Prime Minister of Lithuania. After announcing his bid on 7 December 2023, Nausėda became the clear frontrunner, while Šimonytė was the sole woman vying for the presidency. Former chairman of the Lithuanian Bar Association Ignas Vėgėlė was considered to be an anti-establishment candidate, although several candidates contended for the protest vote. Eduardas Vaitkus was regarded as the pro-Russian candidate in the election and received support from the Polish-majority Šalčininkai region and Visaginas, which is predominantly inhabited by ethnic Russians.
National security in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the financing of the military, universal conscription, managing effects of the ageing population, cost of living, the One China Policy, ratification of the Istanbul Convention, Nausėda's 2019 presidential campaign and alleged connections with business interests from Russia and Belarus, the Šimonytė Cabinet and its conflict with Nausėda emerged as potential leading issues during the campaign. Both Nausėda and Šimonytė agreed on increasing defense spending and strengthening relations with NATO, but diverged on other issues such as economic policy and same-sex unions, which Nausėda opposes. Both candidates also shared diverging views on the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania, whose naming after the island rather than the standard practice of using its capital Taipei led to diplomatic and economic sanctions from China. Nausėda supports having the office change its name, which Šimonytė opposes.
Following the results of the first round, Nausėda expressed thanks to the Lithuanian people for their support during his five years in office despite challenges such as inequality, while Šimonytė said the results indicated support for her premiership. Ignas Vėgėlė attributed his defeat to the distribution of votes among the candidates who campaigned on a change platform and his lack of political experience.
Candidate donations and funding
Campaign funding in elections in Lithuania is heavily restricted. The maximum amount each candidate is limited to raise is €2 million. Only individuals living in Lithuania and registered political parties may provide funding for a candidate. The candidate themselves may contribute a maximum of €36,000 or one fifth of their total declared income and assets. Individuals who had yet to declare income can only donate up to €50 through the entire electoral cycle, whereas individuals who had done so may contribute a maximum of €18,000 or one tenth of their total declared income and assets.
The system has been criticized for providing for a handicapped, monotonous campaign and diluting the chance of unknown candidates to spread their message to wider, untapped audiences.
Opinion polls
Names in italic indicate politicians who have been added to presidential election opinion polls despite not considering a bid.
Conduct
Early voting for the first round was conducted from 8 to 10 May, during which more than 91,000 people, or 3.8% of eligible voters participated. Voting for those who cannot leave their homes was held from 10 to 11 May. On the first round of regular voting on 12 May, polling opened at 07:00 and lasted until 20:00 local time. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe did not send election monitors to Lithuania for the first time after it turned down an invitation by the government due to its refusal to admit monitors from Russia and Belarus on national security grounds, which the OSCE said was a violation of its rules. This led Ignas Vėgėlė to criticize what he called a "lack of transparency" due to their absence. Two thousand other monitors were allowed to observe the election. No election-related incidents were recorded by Lithuanian authorities.
For the second round, early voting began on 21 May and closed on 23 May. Voting in designated locations outside normal polling areas was held from 22 May to 25 May, while voting for those unable to vote in person was held from 24 May to 25 May. Turnout in early voting reached 11.03% of the electorate. On 26 May, polling was held from 07:00 to 20:00. While voting was underway on 26 May, Nauseda was warned by the electoral commission after he issued a message on Facebook urging voters to await the results in the gardens of the presidential palace, which the agency deemed to be a possible violation of the rule of silence during election time. His office denied that the post amounted to electoral campaigning and that he would not remove the post.
Results
No candidate received an absolute majority (over 50% of the votes cast) in the first round of voting on 12 May. A second round was held on 26 May. Of the eight candidates, incumbent President Gitanas Nausėda won 44.46% and Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė won 20.02% of votes in the first round, finishing first and second respectively, and they were the only two candidates to appear on the runoff ballot for the second round. Nausėda won the first round in all municipalities except in Vilnius, which voted for Šimonytė, and Šalčininkai and Visaginas, which were won by Eduardas Vaitkus. Turnout in the first round was at 59.37%, the third highest for an election in Lithuania since the 1993 and 1997 presidential elections.
After the first round, Šimonytė was endorsed by Žalimas, and Nausėda was endorsed by Žemaitaitis and Vėgėlė. Vaitkus stated that he will spoil his ballot. The second round results showed Nausėda winning about three-quarters of the vote, allowing him to declare victory. This was the highest majority for a presidential runoff in Lithuania.
Aftermath
Following the release of the election results for the second round, Šimonytė conceded defeat, and said that she would continue in office as prime minister. Nausėda acknowledged that the electorate had given him their mandate and said that he "will have to cherish this credit of trust". Final turnout was estimated at 49.61%.
Reactions
Polish President Andrzej Duda congratulated Nausėda on his reelection and said he was "pleased that we'll be able to continue our excellent cooperation". Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also expressed his congratulations to Nausėda, citing the latter's support for Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.