Lithuania's Gitanas Nauseda was set to secure a second term in a presidential election runoff on May 26 after his opponent conceded following a campaign dominated by security concerns in the EU and NATO member state neighboring Russia. The Baltic nation of 2.8 million people has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion. Like other countries in the region, it worries it could be Moscow's next target. Nauseda, 60, a former senior economist with Swedish banking group SEB who is not affiliated with any party, won the first round on May 12. Nauseda had a commanding lead in the runoff, gaining more than 80 percent of the vote after the initial vote count, followed by Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, 49, from the ruling center-right Homeland Union party, which has been trailing in opinion polls. Simonyte later conceded.
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