The conclusion follows a poll of the country’s elite by magazine Reitingai and a separate public survey by public opinion and market research company Spinter Tyrimai.
Grybauskaitė has been elected the most influential politician in Lithuania for a fourth year in a row.
Based on the combined results of the two surveys, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis also got in to the top five, followed by Ramūnas Karbauskis, leader of the ruling Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, ex-President Valdas Adamkus and Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuania’s first post-independence leader.
According to Ignas Zokas, head of Spinter Tyrimai, the list contains people with different types of influence, including real decision-makers, moral leaders and several politicians with a good charisma and image.
“Other changes are probably related to higher or lower activity in the media, and more active talks about the upcoming presidential election also leave their mark,” Zokas said.
The survey of Lithuanian residents showed that Grybauskaitė tops the list of the most influential politicians, followed by Adamkus, Karbauskis, Skvernelis and Gabrielius Landsbergis, leader of the opposition conservative Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats.
The list continues with Vytautas Landsbergis, MP Algirdas Butkevičius, Social Democratic MEP Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis and TS-LKD MP Irena Degutienė.
In the elite’s opinion, the list of the most influential politicians in Lithuania is lead by Grybauskaitė, followed by Skvernelis, Karbauskais, Vytautas Landsbergis, Adamkus, Matijošaitis, MP Andrius Kubilius, Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius and MP Ingrida Šimonytė.
Spinter Tyrimai carried out its survey of 1,003 people for delfi.lt on June 19-27.
Reitingai polled 861 representatives of the elite on May 14-June 4.