by Andrius Sytas
VILNIUS, May 12 (Reuters) – Lithuanians go to the polls on Sunday for the first round of the presidential election in which outgoing President Gitanas Nauseda is expected to win a new term.
Gitanas Nauseda, 59, enjoys the support of 29% of voters, according to a recent poll carried out by Delfi/Spinter Tyrimai. Her main rival, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, 49, is credited with 14% of the votes.
Both are staunch supporters of Kyiv and want to devote at least 3% of Lithuania’s gross domestic product (GDP) to military spending, in particular to modernize the army.
Fears of suffering the same fate as Ukraine if Russia wins the war are strong in the Baltic countries, former Soviet republics now members of NATO.
Just over half of Lithuanians think an attack by Russia is possible or even likely, according to a poll by ELTA/Baltijos Tyrimai.
Gitanas Nauseda and Ingrida Simonyte, however, disagree on a certain number of issues, such as that of homosexual marriage which the outgoing president is opposed to.
Polling stations will close at 8:00 p.m. local time (17:00 GMT), with results expected after midnight. If no candidate obtains more than 50% of the votes, a second round will be organized on May 26.
(Andrius Sytas; French version Camille Raynaud)
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