More than ten people are registered to run for the presidency, while as many as 50 have listed people who could be presidential candidates.
However, some of them have grabbed just one other vote. Among them are Gabrielius Landsbergis, the leader of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (0.6%), and Giedrimas Jeglinskas, the official candidate of the Democratic Union Vardan Lietuvos (In the Name of Lithuania) (0.3%).
The poll results confirmed what politicians, political analysts and many voters have been saying for a long time – the favourite in the presidential elections is the current head of state, Gitanas Nausėda.
He would be the undisputed runner-up (if necessary). In the meantime, the fight for second place should be fierce. Citizens gave almost equal marks to the chances of the non-partisan lawyer Ignas Vėgėlė (11.6%) and the conservatives' representative, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė (11%).
The other candidates will have to settle for the role of extras. But during the election campaign, they will have opportunities to make their presence felt as figures with political pretensions or as spokespersons for the values of their parties. So far, voters see Remigijus Žemaitaitis, the founder of the Nemuno Aušra party; Aurelijus Veryga, representing the Peasants; Valdas Tutkas, an independent candidate, Andrius Mazuronis, the leader of the Labour Party, and Dainius Žalimas, representing the Freedom Party. Between 3.8% and 2.3% of respondents, it was said that they were worthy candidates.
A significant proportion (10.2%) of the respondents indicated that the Chair of the Social Democratic Party, MEP Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, would be worthy of running for the presidential seat. However, this politician refused to participate in the elections, and the left-wing parties led by her decided to support the candidacy of Nausėda.
This manoeuvre by Blinkevičiūtė, which some political analysts and even friends of the party assessed as running into the bushes, did not seem to please some of her fans. This is reflected in the following table. Since the end of last year, the MEP's favourable rating has fallen from 51.1% to 48.7%, while the unfavourable rating has increased from 25.6% to 29.5%.
The reaction to the refusal of Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, the Speaker of the Seimas, who leads the Liberal Movement, to run for the presidency was quite different. In the previous Vilmorus poll, the politician had 29.3% favourable and 45.1% unfavourable ratings, while now the figures are 36.9% and 39%, respectively. However, only 1.6% of respondents said Čmilytė-Nielsen would be a good contender for the post of the country's leader.
And what kind of harvest can the parties expect in the European Parliament and Seimas elections?
Despite the controversial decision of the Social Democrats not to run a candidate in the presidential elections, the party's most loyal supporters have not turned away.
If the parliamentary elections were held now, 19% of voters would vote for the Social Democratic Party in a multi-mandate constituency – about the same as at the end of last year.
In recent months, the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats have also been gaining fans. This has allowed the Conservatives to pull away slightly from the Union of Peasants and Greens and the Democratic Union In the Name of Lithuania. The Labour Party and the Liberal Movement have also improved, while the Party of Freedom languishes relatively low.