Worthy Christian News » European Union Budget Chief Wins in a Landslide in Lithuania

 

By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

Bos report
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BUDAPEST/VILNIUS (Worthy News)-- The European Union's budget commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite has won Lithuania's presidential election getting roughly 69 percent of the vote according to official results. 

The results are just about what early exit polls had indicated.  Voter turnout was about 51 percent on Sunday, May 17,  meaning a runoff election is not needed, officials said. 

Even before the results were announced, when she cast her ballot in front of an army of reporters, Grybauskaite appeared confident she would become Lithuania's first female president.

First polls showed that most voters believe the karate black-belt Grybauskaite has what it takes to lead the country out of its most serious economic crisis in years.

MAIN RIVAL

Only about one in ten voters favored her closest rival, Social Democrat lawmaker Algirdas Butkevicius, the results showed.

The winner of the presidential election will replace President Valdas Adamkus who is stepping down in July after completing a second and final five-year term

Analysts say Lithuania's main political parties and politicians are widely disliked because of the current economic downturn, and their reputations have been overshadowed by corruption allegations.

The 53-year-old Grybauskaite, who is the European Union's budget commissioner, decided to run for president as an independent after public anger flared in January over Lithuania's economic collapse.

ANGRY CROWD 

A rock-throwing crowd attacked parliament in what observers described as the worst street violence the Baltic nation had seen since it regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Grybauskaite told journalists Sunday that the economic tensions show it is time for change in the country.

She said she voted for herself as in her words "Lithuania's local political establishment is so boring for people, that they want to see some new faces." Grybauskaite added that "in this difficult times I want to give my experience" as European Commissioner to the Baltic nation.

Grybauskaite would inherit leadership of a country that was long considered more stable than its Baltic neighbors. But just released EU statistics show the economy plummeted nearly ten percent in the first quarter of 2009, compared to the previous three months. Unemployment in March stood at more than 15 percent, a dramatic jump from just over four percent a year earlier.

Grybauskaite has said she wants to help formulate a policy that will stabilise public finances, stimulate exports, absorb EU aid faster and provide tax breaks for small and medium-sized businesses.

After a presidential election, the government has to resign and be re-appointed. Although the new president is likely to nominate the same prime minister, Grybauskaite has not ruled out choosing new ministers. (This Worthy News story also airs via its affiliated Voice of America (VOA) network).