Polls open for presidential election in Lithuania
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Polls opened Sunday for the presidential election in Lithuania, where tough-talking incumbent Dalia Grybauskaite is widely expected to be re-elected for a second term.
The presidential election is the sixth since the former Soviet republic regained independence in 1991.
Seven candidates are competing in the race and recent opinion polls showed 58-year-old Grybauskaite, who was previously EU budget commissioner and Lithuania's finance minister, winning about 47 percent of the vote. Although the polls put her far head of rivals, she is below the simple majority needed to avoid a runoff, to be held along with European Parliament elections on May 25.
In a country occupied by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Grybauskaite's approval ratings have risen after her strongly worded rejection of Moscow's annexation of Crimea and her staunch support for boosting NATO forces in Lithuania.
"Europe must understand that Russia is trying to redraw the post-war map and borders," Grybauskaite told reporters recently. "First, it's Ukraine, Moldova will be next and, finally, it can reach the Baltic states and Poland. This is a serious threat to our region."
Each of her closest rivals — populist Labor lawmaker Arturas Paulauskas and European Parliament member Zigmantas Balcytis, a social democrat — are far behind, both with 10 percent ratings.
The margin of error in the April 4-9 survey of 1,001 people by pollster Vilmorus was 3.5 percentage points.
Grybauskaite is an economist who was educated both in the Soviet Union and the United States. She became Lithuania's first female president when she was elected in 2009.
With her re-election seen as all but certain, critics say Grybauskaite's lead has sucked all the energy out of the race.
"I have never seen in any country such a dull election campaign," former president Valdas Adamkus told lawmakers in parliament.
Pre-election surveys suggest that about 52 percent of the 2.5 million registered voters in Baltic coastal nation intend to cast their ballots.
