VILNIUS - As things stand now, Valdas Adamkus could become the country's next president, according to the results of the most recent poll.
The Vilmorus pollster announced this week that, on the basis of a study conducted May 6 - 9, the former president would garner almost 30 percent of the popular vote. While not enough to win the ballot outright, it would put Adamkus in first place going into a second probable round of elections.
Ironically, Rolandas Paksas would come in second place, with 19.1 percent of the vote.
However, the impeached president has been barred from participating in the upcoming June 12 ballot after lawmakers amended the law on elections. Now any executive or MP removed from office is banned from running for a period of five years.
Vilija Blinkeviciute, the candidate from the ruling Social Liberals, would collect 11.4 percent of the vote, while Petras Austrevicius, who is backed by the Conservatives and the Labor Party, would likely receive 10.9 percent, followed by the Farmers and New Democracy Party Union's Kazimira Prunskiene with 9.1 percent and acting Prime Minister Ceslovas Jursenas with 8.2 percent.
Another 4.2 percent of respondents said they would prefer a different candidate, while 3.7 percent would not bother to vote at all.
Meanwhile, the two right-wing candidates - Adamkus and Austrevicius - met for talks on May 13, where they agreed on common goals.
"We agreed that our common goal was to keep Lithuania in the spirit of Western democracy," Adamkus, who was president from 1998 to 2003, told the Baltic News Service.
The former president didn't rule out the possibility that either he or Austrevicius - former senior negotiator with the European Union - would withdraw from the polls until the first round.
"There is a theoretical chance," said Adamkus, noting that the two candidates have agreed to "observe the situation and public opinion."
Indeed, another Vilmorus poll showed that if the two top favorites - Adamkus and Paksas - did not stand in the election, the leading position would go to Austrevicius, who would subsequently receive 21.8 percent of the vote.
MP Andrius Kubilius, leader of the oppositional Conservative Party that supports both candidates, was also present at the May 13 meeting. The party's presidium has decided to continue supporting both candidates.
A final decision will be made after the courts have ruled about the constitutionality of the ban on Paksas' candidacy.
The Constitutional Court was scheduled to open hearings into the issues next week.
Adamkus, in the meantime, has begun his campaign in earnest through a series of trips across the country. The aim of the program, dubbed Blossom of Hope, is to visit the country's poorest and most desolate regions.
On May 17, for instance, he and his wife Alma visited Didziasalis near the Belarusian border, an area plagued by unemployment, crime, alcoholism and truant children. According to Welfare Ministry data, the unemployment rate in Didziasalis is as high as 78 percent, with 80 percent of its residents on welfare.
Meanwhile, Paksas supporters continued to stir up a fuss. Several supporters organized a rally outside the French Embassy on May 17 where they held signs saying, "the European community ignores neighbors' problems" and "European human rights in Lithuania - a bluff."
"We hope to get moral support and inform the countries about what is going on in Lithuania," one of the activists was quoted as saying.
