2009 Lithuanian presidential election
17 May 2009
 
Nominee Dalia Grybauskaitė Algirdas Butkevičius Valentinas Mazuronis
Party Independent LSDP TT
Popular vote 950,407 162,665 84,656
Percentage 69.09% 11.82% 6.15%
President before election

Valdas Adamkus
Independent

 Elected President

Dalia Grybauskaitė
Independent

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] This is the largest margin of victory in a direct presidential election in Lithuania. Grybauskaitė took office on 12 July as the country's first female president.

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:

Grybauskaitė was supported by the Homeland Union and Liberal Movement.

Opinion polls

According to the opinion polls, Grybauskaitė was the undisputed leader in the race for the Presidency.[4][5]

Results

CandidatePartyVotes%
Dalia GrybauskaitėIndependent950,40769.09
Algirdas ButkevičiusSocial Democratic Party162,66511.82
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
Total1,375,638100.00
Valid votes1,375,63898.73
Invalid/blank votes17,6401.27
Total votes1,393,278100.00
Registered voters/turnout2,691,60351.76
Source: Central Election Commission

References

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