Lithuania’s Iron Lady, Dalia Grybauskaite, won an unprecedented second term on Sunday in a presidential runoff held amid widespread apprehension over a resurgent Russia.
Many here who remember Soviet times see the karate black belt — who is nicknamed for her Thatcheresque toughness — as their best choice to steer the country through Europe’s worst standoff with Moscow since the Cold War.
“No president has been elected twice in a row in Lithuania,” she said as official results showed her capturing 58 percent support in the runoff against leftist rival Zigmantas Balcytis.
“It will be a historic victory for all of you,” she said, with more than 80 percent of the vote counted.
“Amid an increasing sense of insecurity and uncertainty, a majority of voters have a chosen reliable and tested person,” Vilnius University analyst Tomas Janeliunas told reporters as the results rolled in.
Remigijus Paplauskas, a prison warden who lives near Kaliningrad, worries that Moscow could try to destabilize the Baltic states, which shook off five decades under the Soviet yoke in 1990 to 1991 before joining NATO and the EU in 2004.
“My 90-year-old aunt, whom the Soviets deported to Siberia believes something bad will happen,” he told reporters, reflecting the widespread apprehension in the region.
“Grybauskaite is the only one seriously prepared for the presidency,” Vilnius civil servant Jurate Kiserauske told reporters as she emerged from a polling station. “She has a clear position, opinion and morality. Balcytis has no backbone. And now, when we see strong winds blowing from Russia, it’s worrying.”
Balcytis, who served as a leftist lawmaker in the outgoing European Parliament, took a more cautious approach on Russia, advocating dialogue.
“I expected a better result ... but the choice and will of the Lithuanian people today is very clear — President Grybauskaite won these elections,” the 60-year-old former transport and finance minister told local television.
Vilnius resident Vida Stankeviciene, 50, was one of the no-shows. She said Grybauskaite’s “dictatorial tone has become annoying” over the years, while Balcytis did not inspire confidence.
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