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

Lithuania
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Lithuania

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:

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 GrybauskaitėIndependent950,40769.09
Algirdas ButkevičiusSocial Democratic Party of Lithuania162,66511.82
Valentinas MazuronisOrder and Justice84,6566.15
Valdemar TomaševskiElectoral Action of Poles in Lithuania65,2554.74
Kazimira PrunskienėLithuanian Peasant Popular Union53,7783.91
Loreta GraužinienėLabour Party49,6863.61
Česlovas JezerskasIndependent9,1910.67
Invalid votes17,640–
Total1,393,278100
Registered voters/turnout2,691,60351.76
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
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