VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuanians return to the polls Sunday for the second round of the Baltic country's presidential election as incumbent President Gitanas Nausėda seeks to hold off Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė and secure another five-year term.
The 60-year-old Nauseda, a moderate conservative, has been a strong backer of Ukraine, a position shared across most of the political spectrum. The popular Nauseda has been in office since 2009 and during that time Lithuania has also given refuge to many who have fled an authoritarian crackdown in neighboring Belarus and increased repression in Russia.
The president’s main tasks in NATO-member Lithuania’s political system are overseeing foreign and defense policy, along with acting as the supreme commander of the armed forces.
Given that Lithuania is strategically located on NATO’s eastern flank, the presidency of a relatively small nation is given added importance as tensions rise between Russia and the West over the war in Ukraine.
The election comes as Russian gains in Ukraine are fueling greater fears about Moscow’s intentions, particularly in the strategically important Baltic region.
After regaining its independence in 1991 from the Soviet Union, which occupied the southernmost Baltic country for five decades, Lithuania joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.
Both candidates have been outspoken critics of Moscow and of Minsk, a Russia ally.
Nausėda who is favored to win another five-year term, is a former banker who entered politics with his successful presidential run in 2019. He and Šimonytė won the first round but failed to muster the 50% of the votes needed to win the presidency outright. Nausėda won the first round on May 12 with 44% of the votes and Šimonytė nearly 20%.
Both Nausėda and Šimonytė, who became prime minister in 2020, also ran against each other in a presidential runoff in 2019, when Nausėda won with 66% of the votes.
Lithuania’s Central Electoral Commission is expected to announce the outcome of the election on Monday.
Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda, a presidential candidate, prepares to cast his ballot at a polling station during the advance presidential elections in the small town of Svencionys, some 85km (52,8 miles) north of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Thursday, May 23, 2024. The second round of presidential vote in Lithuania will take place on May 26. Lithuania's incumbent president won the most votes in the first round with 44% of the votes but he still faces a runoff against the country's prime minister. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's reelection campaign said Monday it will spend $50 million through the end of June on a new ad campaign that includes efforts to spotlight Republican Donald Trump's felony conviction.
The costly advertising push comes with Election Day still more than four and a half months away. But Biden's campaign says it wants to more clearly define the choice between the two candidates ahead of the first debate between them in Atlanta on June 27.
A central part of Biden's campaign strategy is highlighting Trump's far-reaching policy proposals for a second term and firing up disaffected Democrats and independent voters. The campaign producing an ad that leans heavily into Trump’s conviction, and including it in such a large advertising buy, indicates a renewed effort to make Trump’s legal problems an election issue in ways Biden’s team previously resisted.
The new ad campaign includes more than $1 million geared toward media reaching Black, Hispanic and Asian American voters, and an ad highlighting Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts in a New York hush money case. That spot will air on general market television and connected TV on streaming devices and cell phones in battleground states, as well as on national cable.
In addition to Trump's criminal conviction, the ad, titled “Character Matters,” notes the former president also was found liable for sexual assault and financial fraud in separate proceedings. Trump also faces felony charges in three separate criminal cases, none of which may go to trial before the November election.
“This election is between a convicted criminal who's only out for himself and a president who's fighting for your family,” intones the ad's narrator over images of a Trump mug shot and Biden high-fiving supporters.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment Sunday night. But Trump has denied any wrongdoing and argued without evidence that Biden or Justice Department officials orchestrated the New York case against him for political reasons. He and his allies also have raised the prospect of prosecuting political opponents in revenge if he returns to the White House.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at 180 Church, Saturday, June 15, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
From left, Maisy Biden, Naomi Biden, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk to depart on Air Force One from Los Angeles International Airport, Sunday, June 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. Biden is returning to Washington after a campaign event. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Joe Biden is seated during a campaign event with former President Barack Obama moderated by Jimmy Kimmel at the Peacock Theater, Saturday, June 15, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
