EU Budgetary Affairs Commissioner elected President of Lithuania

Lithuanian European Commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite, responsible for budgetary affairs, will soon be leaving Brussels to head her country as its new President.

Standing as an independent, Ms Grybauskaite received 68 per cent of the vote on Sunday in an election which had a 51.7 per cent turnout.

Her margin of victory was so great that no second round of voting is required. Her main rival, Algirdas Butkevicius, a Social Democrat parliamentarian, placed second with just 12 per cent of the vote.

Ms Grybauskaite, nominated as Lithuania's first commissioner when her country joined the EU in 2004, has been on leave since April, giving her time to contest the Presidential election. Siim Kallas, the Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, temporarily took over her duties.

She will now resume her role until she takes office in July when she will officially resign from the Commission. Lithuania will have to nominate a new commissioner whose appointment would be approved by the Council of Ministers.

Commission President José Manuel Barroso congratulated Ms Grybauskaite on her "impressive election victory" and said he was looking forward to working with her in her new role.