The president is also the commander-in-chief of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, and accordingly heads the State Defense Council and has the right to appoint the Chief of Defence (subject to Seimas consent).

[5] In addition, according to a resolution by the Constitutional Court of Lithuania in 1998, the president is required by law to nominate the candidate of the parliamentary majority to the office of prime minister.

[7] Citizens of Lithuania at least 40 years of age whose at least one parent was also a citizen (natural-born-citizen clause), who have lived in Lithuania for at least three years prior, are not serving a prison sentence, are not on active duty in the Lithuanian Armed Forces, are not bound to any other country by an oath and have never been impeached, are allowed to run for president.

Originally leading a Homeland Union cabinet in 1999, Paksas resigned in protest to the sale of the Mažeikiai oil refinery to the American Williams Companies - though he was forced to leave the party, his popularity soared and he was later appointed as an advisor on energy policy to the President.

Adamkus, a former official of the Environmental Protection Agency and a member of the Lithuanian diaspora during the Cold War, was elected President in 1998.

[19] In spite of this, he, alongside chairman of the Social Democratic Party Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas, was seen as the most realistic opponent to Adamkus before the election.

[23] Arūnas Valinskas, who later founded the National Resurrection Party, claimed that he convinced Šerėnas to run in order to reveal the absurdity of the election.

[22] Prior to the election, Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas, the chairman of the Social Democratic Party who returned to politics in 2001, was seen as the most realistic challenger to Adamkus.

As Brazauskas did not run, and Adamkus enjoyed high approval ratings at the beginning of the race, he conducted a passive campaign.

According to correspondent Audrius Bačiulis, the campaign was ineffective and its leading personalities lacked cooperation, whereas the president and his staff were certain that victory was inevitable: Long before these elections, they were certain - George W. Bush will fly over, wave his hand from the steps of the Town Hall, Lithuania is invited to NATO, and the elections are in the pocket.

[26] Katkevičius's strategy was to establish Paksas as a strongman who would restore law and order against the more passive Adamkus - on the campaign trail, Paksas became known for radical promises such as restoring the death sentence, strictly controlling the actions of the Government of Lithuania, the country's spending and the size of pensions, and ordering police to patrol schools with detection dogs.

[3] To bypass the media, which he believed to be hostile to him, Paksas visited voters directly, often traveling via helicopter, which earned him the nickname "Flying Rolandas".

[3] The helicopter was loaned to Paksas by Russian businessman and owner of the aviation company Aviabaltika Yuri Borisov.