By Andrius Sytas
VILNIUS (Reuters) -Lithuanian Gitanas Nauseda looked set to secure a second term in office in a presidential election runoff on Sunday, partial results showed, following a campaign dominated by security concerns in the European Union and NATO member next to Russia.
The Baltic nation of 2.8 million people has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion. Like other countries in the region, it worries it could be Moscow’s next target.
Nauseda, 60, a former senior economist with Swedish banking group SEB who is not affiliated with any party, won the first round of the election on May 12 with 44% of the votes, short of the 50% he needed for an outright victory.
Partial results with some 30% of ballots counted showed him winning 82% on Sunday, followed by Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, 49, from the ruling centre-right Homeland Union party that has been trailing in opinion polls. She was the only woman out of eight candidates in the first round and came second with 20%.
Just over half of Lithuanians believe a Russian attack is possible or even very likely, according to a ELTA/Baltijos Tyrimai poll conducted between February and March. Russia has regularly dismissed concerns that it might attack a NATO member.
Nauseda told a debate on Tuesday he sees Russia as an enemy. “Our enemies – who even call themselves our enemies, who are enemies of us and all the democratic world – are attempting to destabilise our politics, and we must do all to resist.”
Both Nauseda and Simonyte support increasing defence spending to at least 3% of Lithuania’s gross domestic product, from the 2.75% planned for this year.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Tomasz Janowski)
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