Gitanas Nauseda

Gitanas Nausėda born 19 May 1964, is a Lithuanian politician, economist, and banker who is serving as the ninth and incumbent president of Lithuania since 2019. Born in Klaipėda, Nausėda graduated from Vilnius University with an economics degree in 1987. He was director of monetary policy at the Bank of Lithuania from 1996 to 2000 and chief economist to the chairman of SEB bankas from 2008 to 2018. Nausėda entered politics in 2019, running as an independent candidate in the 2019 Lithuanian presidential election. In the second round of the election, he defeated the independent (but Homeland Union-endorsed) Ingrida Šimonytė, with 66% of the vote. His success has been attributed to his moderate, "catch-all" profile. As president, Nausėda oversaw Lithuania's response to the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 7 December 2023, Nausėda announced his decision to run for re-election in the 2024 Lithuanian presidential election and was re-elected for a second term on 26 May 2024.