First administration (1998–2003) Shortly after leaving the EPA, Valdas Adamkus moved back to Lithuania. Soon after his decision to run for presidency in 1998, he faced a legal battle in the Lithuanian courts. Doubts arose whether Adamkus was eligible to run for the presidency due to having spent over half a century abroad, raising the possibility that he might not meet minimum residency requirements. However, the court resolved the case in Adamkus' favor, and no other obstacles remained other than his U.S. citizenship, which he
officially renounced at the American Embassy in
Vilnius. He was elected as President of Lithuania in 1998, defeating
Artūras Paulauskas in the runoff, serving from then until 2003, when he ran for re-election, but was unexpectedly defeated by
Rolandas Paksas. He returned to politics after the presidential scandal of 2003 and 2004, when his former rival Paksas was impeached and removed from office. In the
first round of the 2004 election, held on 13 June 2004, Adamkus securing 30% of the vote – more than any other candidate. Paksas could not run for office again, because a ruling from
Lithuania's Constitutional Court disallowed him from running for public office and he was, therefore, unable to register as a candidate. A runoff election was held on 27 June 2004, which Adamkus won with about 52% of the votes against
Kazimira Prunskienė. By 2009, he had served the two presidential terms permitted by the
Constitution of Lithuania and was succeeded as president by
Dalia Grybauskaitė. In 2003, Valdas Adamkus was named
UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Construction of Knowledge Societies. The Director-General of UNESCO,
Koïchiro Matsuura, noted that Adamkus was named as Ambassador "in recognition of his dedication to the Organization's aims and ideals and with a view to benefiting for the construction of knowledge societies from his wisdom and extensive experience in many of UNESCO's areas of concern, in particular promotion of social development, cultural diversity, dialog and international cooperation."
Second administration (2004–2009) Foreign affairs Under his second administration, Lithuania actively promoted democracy in the formerly Soviet Eastern European and Asian nations. President Adamkus, together with President
Aleksander Kwaśniewski,
Javier Solana,
Boris Gryzlov and
Ján Kubiš, served as a mediator during
Ukraine's political crisis, when two candidates in the 2004 presidential election,
Viktor Yanukovych and
Viktor Yushchenko, each claimed victory. President Adamkus recalled in an interview that "when I asked what we could do to help,
Kuchma said the friends of the Ukrainian people should drop whatever they were doing and come to Kiev immediately.". The next day, international mediators met in Ukraine. The crisis was resolved after a new election was held. Valdas Adamkus and his Estonian counterpart
Arnold Rüütel rejected an invitation to participate in a commemorative celebration of the end of World War II in Europe in 2005. President Adamkus expressed the view that the war's end, in Lithuania, marked the beginning of a fifty-year Soviet occupation and repression. In response, on 22 July, the
United States Congress unanimously passed a resolution that Russia should "issue a clear and unambiguous statement of admission and condemnation of the illegal occupation and annexation by the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1991 of the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania", but Russia refused. President Adamkus supports an active dialogue between
European Union member states and former Soviet republics such as
Georgia,
Ukraine, and
Moldova, that are actively seeking membership in the EU. He expressed support for these candidate members during the
Community of Democratic Choice in 2005, at the
Vilnius Conference 2006, and on several other occasions. Valdas Adamkus is an Honorary Member of The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
Domestic affairs Valdas Adamkus enjoyed a very high approval rating in Lithuania. He was also recognized for the second time for his support of Lithuanian youth. President Adamkus was actively involved in government reorganizations in 2004 and 2006. In his 2006 State of the Nation address, Adamkus stated that his top priorities were: • Increasing public participation in the political realm • Targeted and transparent use of the EU funds and opportunities for building a greater well-being in Lithuania • Reforms in public governance, education and science, social support and health care • The development of professional competence among civil servants, especially in assessing regulatory impacts • Approval of a political
code of ethics • Direct mayoral elections, and elimination of the
county system • Construction of a new
nuclear power unit in Ignalina • Legislation regulating the selection, appointment, and promotion of judges • Controlling "
brain drain" by supporting research and higher education infrastructure ==Personal life==