Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis told Reuters on Tuesday he would resign if he came third or lower in presidential elections as this would signal his government had lost the public&#8217;s trust.
Skvernelis is facing an uphill battle in Sunday&#8217;s election, polling third with 17 percent of voter support, according to a Vilmorus/Lietuvos Rytas poll.
After the Sunday vote, the two top candidates will proceed to a run-off on May 26.
&#8220;The election is an evaluation of the job of this government and this ruling coalition,&#8221; Skvernelis said in an interview.
&#8220;So, a painful loss &#8211; which is to say, if I don&#8217;t make it to the runoff &#8211; means we do not have trust to continue our job,&#8221; said Skvernelis, who has led the government since a 2016 general election.
The poll is led jointly by Ingrida Simonyte, a former finance minister and former central bank deputy governor, and Gitanas Nauseda, a former advisor to the president of the top Lithuanian bank, running neck-and-neck on 22 percent each.
Skvernelis said he wanted to be the president, a semi-executive position, in order to support his parliamentary coalition, which faces a next general election in 2020.

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Lithuania PM says he would quit if unsuccessful in presidential vote

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Germany will invest a total of 110 million euros until 2021 in improving military bases in Lithuania, its defense minister said on Monday, underlining Berlin&#8217;s continued commitment to the defense of its NATO allies in the Baltic region, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/germany-vows-to-keep-troops-in-lithuania-invest-more-in-barracks-/4772278.html">reports</a> VOA News.
Germany leads a NATO force of 1,200 troops from 10 countries sent to Lithuania two years ago as part of NATO&#8217;s effort to beef up defenses along eastern Europe&#8217;s borders with Russia after its 2014 annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine.
&#8220;We want to make clear that Lithuania is not alone and will never stand alone. It will never again have to sacrifice its freedom and independence,&#8221; Ursula von der Leyen told reporters during a visit to the German forces.
&#8220;We will stay here with the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) as long as we&#8217;re needed, and as long as the security situation requires it.&#8221;
Von der Leyen said the German deployment had bolstered joint training efforts and improved the ability to deploy on missions if needed.
Germany will invest 50 million euros this year in a joint barracks shared by NATO forces and in other facilities, with spending to total 110 million euros by 2021, she said.
Welcoming her comments, Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis said: &#8220;This is the first time we have heard so clearly and from such a high political level that Germany is here for the long term, until the security situation changes.&#8221;
Lithuania, a former Soviet republic, joined NATO along with the two other Baltic states Latvia and Estonia and a number of other ex-communist nations in 2004.
The three Baltic states, which were forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 and secured their independence only with the fall of communism, were rattled by Russia&#8217;s annexation of Crimea and its support for pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine.
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Germany Vows to Keep Troops in Lithuania, Invest More in Barracks

A No Deal Brexit could be better than extending the &#8220;chaos&#8221; of negotiations over the UK&#8217;s departure from the European Union, Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė has<a href="https://www.euronews.com/2019/01/24/no-deal-may-be-better-than-extending-brexit-negotiations-lithuanian-president?fromBreakingNews=1"> told</a> Euronews.
Amid the hatred and anti-political feeling generated by the protracted talks, &#8220;Nobody cares anymore what exactly [the] details are,&#8221; she told Euronews&#8217; political editor Darren McCaffrey at Davos.
&#8220;The more we will be trying to extend any kind of uncertainty, the worse it will be for both sides. And in that case, even it&#8217;s better to finish this chaos sooner even with no deal or with any kind of deal,&#8221; she said.
Grybauskaitė said she was confident of being able to conclude specific agreements swiftly with London following the UK&#8217;s departure because the two sides enjoyed &#8220;absolutely special relations&#8221; especially regarding the economy and security.
Other European leaders have given favourable signals towards the idea of extending the talks after the British parliament rejected an agreement secured by prime minister Theresa May.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the UK was aware that the EU would be willing to extend the talks. However, an extension would require a unanimous agreement from all remaining 27 EU heads of state, including Lithuania.

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No deal may be better than extending Brexit negotiations: Lithuanian president