Lithuania’s Presidential Palace, Photo: markhillary

Lithuania’s gotten a lot of international press lately.

Once one of the EU’s most overlooked countries, Lithaunia’s star suddenly seems to be rising. In addition to being on all the travel magazines’ 2009 “must visit” lists, it was announced today that Dalia Grybauskaite was elected as the country’s first female president.

Grybauskaite, who has been serving as the EU’s Budget Commissioner, ran as an independent and earned 68% of the electorate’s votes, edging out seven other candidates.

She will be inaugurated on July 12.