Editing Elections in Lithuania (section)

=== Election process and eligibility ===

The [[President of Lithuania]] is the head of state of the country, elected to a five-year term in a majority vote. Elections take place on the last Sunday no more than two months before the end of current presidential term.<ref name="Constitution">{{cite web |url=http://www3.lrs.lt/home/Konstitucija/Constitution.htm |title=Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania |publisher=The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania |access-date=31 July 2015}}</ref>

[[File:2009 m. Respublikos Prezidento rinkimai Dalia Grybauskaitė 03.jpg|thumb|[[Dalia Grybauskaitė]] casting a vote in the 2009 presidential election]]To be eligible for election, candidates must be at least 40 years old on the election day and reside in Lithuania for at least three years, in addition to satisfying the eligibility criteria for a member of the parliament. A person who has been removed from office through impeachment for breach of constitution or an oath of office may not be elected as a president.<ref name="PresidentLaw">{{cite web |url=http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/inter3/dokpaieska.showdoc_l?p_id=1040824 |title=Law on Presidential Elections |date= 14 May 2015 |publisher=The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania |access-date=31 July 2015}}</ref> This provision of the constitution had been ruled to be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The president is elected in a majority vote if the voter turnout is at least 50%. If the voter turnout is less than 50%, the candidate is declared the winner only if they get the votes of at least 1/3 of all eligible voters. If there are more than two candidates and no candidate wins in the first round, a second round of voting is held on a Sunday no more than two weeks after the first round. The two leading candidates from the first round are eligible for the second round of voting and the candidate that gets more votes in the second round is declared the winner. If two or fewer candidates stand for election and none manage to win in the first round, a new election is held no more than three months after the election date.<ref name="PresidentLaw" />