Lithuania: Surprise victory for Rolandas Paksas in presidential election, January 2003

Rolandas Paksas, a right wing Liberal Democrat, has claimed a surprise victory in the second round of the Lithuanian presidential election held on 5 January 2003 after securing 55% of the vote.

The current President, Valdas Adamkus, had been widely tipped to win the election because of his huge popularity with the public. He was voted Lithuania's person of the year for 2002, reflecting his successes in boosting economic growth, keeping unemployment down and guiding the Baltic State towards entry into the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. However Mr. Adamkus, an independent candidate and former US citizen, only received 45% of the vote despite having emerged from the first round in December 2002 with a clear lead.

Analysts have suggested that Mr.Adamkus lost out to the younger candidate because he failed to do enough campaigning after the first round of elections when he won 35% of the vote while Mr. Paksas got 19.4%. In the time between the two rounds, Mr. Paksas campaigned hard promising a better life for Lithuanians with the slogan 'vote for change'. He was already popular after serving two terms as mayor of the capital Vilnius, where he won recognition for reviving the capital's historic centre, which fell into disrepair under Soviet rule and he had already served twice as prime minister.

Mr Paksas created the right wing Liberal Democrat Party after splitting with the Liberal Union in 2000. Some critics fear that future conflicts between Mr. Paksas and the pro-EU, centre-left government and parliament may pose a risk to Lithuania's EU membership. Although the president isn't involved in the day-to-day running of the country he serves as the main foreign envoy and whilst Mr. Paksas has pledged to continue with Lithuania's pro-Western foreign policy he believes that the EU was too harsh on Lithuania when the terms of its future membership were negotiated. As the results became known, Mr. Paksas was quoted as saying 'My first visit will be to Brussels to meet EU leaders and clarify the situation on certain points that do not satisfy me'.

Only 51% of the electorate braced the -20C freezing weather conditions to vote. Once the results have been confirmed by Lithuania's Central Election Commission on 10 January then Mr. Paksas will be free to take up office in February 2003, becoming Lithuania's third President since the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Links:
President of the Republic of Lithuania:
	Homepage
Republic of Lithuania Central Electoral Committee:
	Homepage
	Results of the Voting Round No.1
	Results of the Voting Round No.2
BBC News Online:
	05.01.03:	Shock result in Lithuania poll
	06.01.03:	Lithuania's flying President, Rolandas Paksas
	23.12.02:	Adamkus leads Lithuania poll
European Sources Online: Financial Times:
	07.01.03:	Lithuania adjusts to new President's surprise victory
	06.01.03:	Populist wins Lithuanian presidential vote
European Sources Online:
	Information on European Countries: Lithuania

Helen Bower

Compiled: Wednesday, 8 January 2003

Rolandas Paksas, a right wing Liberal Democrat, claimed a surprise victory in the second round of the Lithuanian presidential election held on 5 January 2003 after securing 55% of the vote.