Presidential Election, 26 May 2024

On 12 and 26 May 2024, Lithuania held first- and second-round presidential elections (Euronews/AP 2024). The president of Lithuania serves as the head of state, while the prime minister, appointed by the president with the parliament's approval, heads the executive branch (EU n.d.). Both officials serve five-year terms, and the president is elected by plurality vote (GlobalEdge n.d.). As head of the armed forces, the president chairs the national defence and security policy body and represents Lithuania at NATO and EU summits.

Lithuania is a multi-party parliamentary democracy. The Seimas, Lithuania's unicameral parliament, consists of 141 members elected for four-year terms: 71 from single-member constituencies and 70 by national party lists. Parties must secure at least five per cent of the national vote to be represented in the Seimas (LSE/CoR 2024). The electoral management body is the Central Electoral Commission (VRK), composed of 16 members (up to 20 depending on the number of nominated party members) (ACE n.d.; VRK n.d.).

A revised electoral code was introduced, entailing regulations on political advertising, prohibition of manipulated accounts, and new deadlines for both voter and candidate registration. Additionally, a shortened campaign silence was introduced together with obligations on candidates to declare their past party membership and for the CEC to publish information about the candidates (OSCE 2024).

President Gitanas Nausėda won re-election with 74.6 per cent of the votes in the second round (Guardian/AFP 2024). President Nausėda is a former senior economist and is not affiliated with any political party (Al Jazeera 2024).

The OSCE’s pre-election assessment mission reported that the possibility of disinformation and intolerant rhetoric on social networks during the campaign was reported as being of concern, albeit most interlocutors expressed full confidence in the electoral system (OSCE 2024). Alongside aspects of campaign finance, online and media campaigning therefore warranted further evaluation – as did restrictions on eligibility to run in the elections and the involvement of underrepresented groups such as national minorities and disabled voters. OSCE-ODIHR was accordingly willing to deploy an Election Assessment Mission for the presidential election and was invited to do so. However, the OSCE declined due to Lithuania’s exclusion of nationals from certain OSCE participating states (OSCE 2024: 3). 

According to the Central Electoral Commission, voter turnout was 59.95 per cent, higher than the 53.88 per cent turnout in the 2019 election (International IDEA; CityNews/AP 2024).