Lithuanians voted on Sunday in a first-round ballot to elect one of nine candidates to the presidency.

Polls predicted three candidates — former Finance Minister Ingrida Simonyte, economist Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis — have a realistic chance of replacing incumbent President Dalia Grybauskaite, who cannot stand for reelection after completing her two five-year terms.

The center-right Simonyte was popular with educated urban voters, while Skvernelis' populist politics appealed to rural voters. Nauseda, on the other hand, sought to appeal across the rich-poor divide in the former Soviet republic of 2.8 million people.

If no candidate wins an absolute majority following Sunday's poll, the two best-placed candidates will go into a runoff on May 26.

Lithuania simultaneously held two referendums: one on the introduction of dual citizenship to the country and another on the reduction of the number of parliamentary representatives.

Voter turnout tallied at 56.45% at the close of voting, according to the Central Elections Commission. Partial official results are expected to be announced during the night or early on Monday.

'Thirsty for social justice'

Lithuania is struggling with a population decline, partly owing to emigration to Western Europe by people seeking better living conditions. The Eastern European country's economic growth has improved, but poverty, income inequality and unemployment remain high.

"Citizens are thirsty for social justice and seek a candidate who can bridge existing social polarization," Donatas Puslys from the Vilnius Policy Analysis Institute told the AFP news agency.

All main contenders support EU and NATO memberships for Lithuania and are wary of neighboring Russia, particularly since Moscow's 2014 military intervention in Ukraine.

The president has the power to veto laws, set foreign and defense policy, and is involved in appointing judges, the chief prosecutor and the central bank chief. Around 2.5 million people are eligible to vote in the election.

Read more: Lithuania set to ban fake news from Russia

kw,shs/ng (AFP, dpa)

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> A man votes during presidental elections in Vilnius, Lithuania, 12 May 2019 | Valda Kalnina/EPA-EFE Close race ahead in Lithuania’s presidential election The two contenders in the run-off are both economists with center-right views.

The two candidates to become Lithuania's next president are locked in a tight race ahead of Sunday's election.

Former Finance Minister Ingrida Šimonytė and economist Gitanas Nausėda are competing to replace President Dalia Grybauskaitė, who cannot run again after two consecutive terms in office. Both are running as independents.

They were neck-and-neck in the first round on March 12, which saw Šimonytė win 31.31 percent of the vote, narrowly beating Nausėda to the top spot by 0.37 percentage points. The Lithuanian electoral commission said that 3,935 votes were all that stood between them — in a country of 2.5 million eligible voters.

But as neither candidate received 50 percent in the first vote, a second round will be held this Sunday, coinciding with the final day of voting in the European Parliament election. No opinion polls are expected to be published ahead of the vote.

Šimonytė, 44, a former MP, was finance minister during the global financial crisis when Lithuania’s GDP dropped by almost 15 percent.

In Lithuania's semi-presidential system, the main duties of the president are foreign and security policy, but domestic issues were the major campaign talking points.

Despite having the backing of the conservative Homeland Union-Christian Democrat party, she has drawn support from young, liberal voters for her progressive social policies, which include support for same-sex civil partnerships and working toward greater representation of women and ethnic minorities in politics and public life.

Homeland Union MP Rasa Juknevičienė, who served as defense minister when Šimonytė was finance minister, praised her as a straight-talking leader and said she would be "more clear and open" than other politicians.

Nausėda, 54, a former chief economist at SEB Bankas and lecturer, has no affiliation with any party. With little experience in politics, his campaign is focused on emphasizing his independence, suggesting he can cooperate with all parties in government.

“Being an independent candidate allows me to represent the whole of society,” he told POLITICO. “And Lithuania needs a president who can act as a unifier.” He added that he wanted to create a sense of “social solidarity."

Both candidates are economists with center-right views who want to unite a society they see as divided. They also emphasize the importance of long-term policy making and constructive political debate.

Margarita Šešelgytė, associate professor at Vilnius University’s department of international relations and political science, said the first round's results had been “quite surprising,” with two very similar candidates making it to the run-off.

“They are representing the same part of the electorate with very small ideological differences,” she said, while noting that Nausėda is considered the more conservative of the two candidates.

She added: “It might be a positive trend when people get tired of populists and choose those who rationalize their statements.”

Speaking after the first round, outgoing President Grybauskaitė said: “The election showed the maturity of Lithuanian society. People have values that cannot be affected by populism or blackmail."

In Lithuania's semi-presidential system, the main duties of the president are foreign and security policy, but domestic issues such as the economy and social welfare were the major campaign issues ahead of the vote.

“Neither [candidate] seems to have a flagship policy for foreign and security policy,” said Egle Murauskaite, a Lithuania-based senior researcher at the University of Maryland’s ICONS project, adding that neither was as well-connected in Brussels as Grybauskaitė had been when she started her first term as president.

Grybauskaitė served as European commissioner for budget before becoming Lithuania's first female president in 2009.
Voters in Lithuania vote to elect representatives for the 141-seat parliament.