By Martha Moss - 18th May 2009
EPP-ED group leader Joseph Daul has congratulated Dalia Grybauskaite, who became Lithuania's first female president following a landslide victory over the weekend.
EU budget commissioner Grybauskaite won almost 69 per cent of the vote as an independent candidate, coming in well ahead of her nearest rival, Social Democrat Algirdas Butkevicius, who obtained just over 11 per cent.
Grybauskaite secured a first-round win with turnout at just over 51 per cent.
"I congratulate the Lithuanian people for their choice," she said following the result.
"The taste of victory is the burden of responsibility."
Daul expressed his "sincere congratulations" to Grybauskaite.
"Lithuanian citizens have expressed strong political will and have put their trust in a very experienced politician and committed European," he said.
"I wish Grybauskaite great success in taking up her new duties as president of Lithuania."
Daul said he hoped that cooperating with Lithuania's government, led by prime minister Andrius Kubilius, would "contribute to the success of the Lithuanian nation and our common prosperity in the EU".
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