Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated Gitanas Nauseda on being re-elected as Lithuania’s President.
Nauseda was re-elected in the final round of the Baltic nation’s presidential elections, as partial results showed him far ahead in the two-way race against his opponent, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.
“Congratulations to H.E. @GitanasNauseda on being re-elected as the President of the Republic of Lithuania. I look forward to working together to further strengthen the close cooperation between India and Lithuania,” PM Modi wrote in a post on X.
Notably, this is the second time Nauseda and Simonyte have competed in presidential run-off elections.
Earlier in 2019, Nauseda beat Simonyte and bagged victory with 66 per cent of the vote.
Ballots from nearly 90 per cent of polling stations on Sunday showed Nauseda, 60, winning roughly three-quarters of the vote, followed by Simonyte, 49, from the ruling centre-right Homeland Union party.
Following his re-win, Simonyte conceded defeat while speaking to reporters and congratulated Nauseda.
As president, Nauseda has a semi-executive role, which includes heading the armed forces, chairing the defence and national security policy bodies, and representing the country at NATO and European Union summits.
The former senior economist with the Swedish banking group SEB, who is not affiliated with any party, won the first round of the election on May 12 with 44 per cent of the votes, short of the 50 per cent he needed for an outright victory, reported Al Jazeera.
Moreover, Simonyte was the only woman out of eight candidates in the first round and came in second with 20 per cent.