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"The taste of victory carries with it the weight of responsibility," the 53-year-old, currently the European Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget, told reporters and cheering supporters.
Near-complete figures from the national electoral commission showed Grybauskaite, who ran as an independent candidate, had won a clear mandate with a resounding 69 percent of the vote.
Her nearest challenger, Social Democrat Algirdas Butkevicius, was far behind with just under 12 percent and said he admitted defeat.
Grybauskaite had been streets ahead in pre-election polling among the seven candidates vying to succeed non-partisan President Valdas Adamkus, 82, who retires in July after serving two five-year terms.
Final confirmation of her victory still hinged on voter turnout, however.
Under Lithuanian law, half of the Baltic state's 2.7 million registered voters must take part to enable the candidate who wins a first-round majority to avoid a run-off ballot against the second-ranked rival two weeks later.
Figures from the electoral commission showed that turnout was just over the hurdle, at 51.59 percent, but that figure could be whittled down if participation was low in electoral districts which had yet to declare.
If her victory is confirmed, Grybauskaite will be the first female president of Lithuania, which broke free from Soviet rule in 1990 and joined the European Union in 2004.
Grybauskaite, who has a martial arts black belt, a reputation for straight talking, and says her political models include former British PM Margaret Thatcher, has pledged to pull her homeland "out of the political and economic shadows."
She has been a member of the EU's Brussels-based executive European Commission since 2004.
From that position, she regularly crossed swords with Lithuania's Social Democrats, who lost office in a general election last October, claiming they squandered a now-defunct economic boom and failed to prepare for the ever-deepening recession.
Grybauskaite won the backing of the ruling Conservatives, who did not put up a candidate. She has nevertheless warned them that she also had a critical eye on their government, which the president has the power to dismiss.
The Lithuanian president's main role is to steer foreign policy.
Grybauskaite has said she wants to try and soften the strong language often directed towards Vilnius's former master Moscow.
"She is coming with a very clear message of change," Conservative Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said.
His party colleague and independence-era icon Vytautas Landsbergis said Grybauskaite would be "energetic, positive and determined to act".
Grybauskaite entered the race in February, after public anger over Lithuania's deepening economic crisis and ingrained distrust in politicians erupted into a riot outside parliament.
"My conscience as a citizen wouldn't let me stay in Brussels," she told AFP ahead of the election. I did what I could from Brussels, criticising and commenting, but it wasn't effective enough."
Grybauskaite studied and taught political economy during the Soviet era and began her public career after independence.
She was named deputy finance minister from 1999 to 2000, deputy foreign minister in 2000, and finance minister from 2001 to 2004.
"She's never been elected to a post. She's always been nominated. So she lacks the knowledge and experience to know how to act in elected office," cautioned political scientist Algis Krupavicius.
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Near-complete figures from the national electoral commission showed Grybauskaite, who ran as an independent candidate, had won a clear mandate with a resounding 69 percent of the vote.
Her nearest challenger, Social Democrat Algirdas Butkevicius, was far behind with just under 12 percent and said he admitted defeat.
Grybauskaite had been streets ahead in pre-election polling among the seven candidates vying to succeed non-partisan President Valdas Adamkus, 82, who retires in July after serving two five-year terms.
Final confirmation of her victory still hinged on voter turnout, however.
Under Lithuanian law, half of the Baltic state's 2.7 million registered voters must take part to enable the candidate who wins a first-round majority to avoid a run-off ballot against the second-ranked rival two weeks later.
Figures from the electoral commission showed that turnout was just over the hurdle, at 51.59 percent, but that figure could be whittled down if participation was low in electoral districts which had yet to declare.
If her victory is confirmed, Grybauskaite will be the first female president of Lithuania, which broke free from Soviet rule in 1990 and joined the European Union in 2004.
Grybauskaite, who has a martial arts black belt, a reputation for straight talking, and says her political models include former British PM Margaret Thatcher, has pledged to pull her homeland "out of the political and economic shadows."
She has been a member of the EU's Brussels-based executive European Commission since 2004.
From that position, she regularly crossed swords with Lithuania's Social Democrats, who lost office in a general election last October, claiming they squandered a now-defunct economic boom and failed to prepare for the ever-deepening recession.
Grybauskaite won the backing of the ruling Conservatives, who did not put up a candidate. She has nevertheless warned them that she also had a critical eye on their government, which the president has the power to dismiss.
The Lithuanian president's main role is to steer foreign policy.
Grybauskaite has said she wants to try and soften the strong language often directed towards Vilnius's former master Moscow.
"She is coming with a very clear message of change," Conservative Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said.
His party colleague and independence-era icon Vytautas Landsbergis said Grybauskaite would be "energetic, positive and determined to act".
Grybauskaite entered the race in February, after public anger over Lithuania's deepening economic crisis and ingrained distrust in politicians erupted into a riot outside parliament.
"My conscience as a citizen wouldn't let me stay in Brussels," she told AFP ahead of the election. I did what I could from Brussels, criticising and commenting, but it wasn't effective enough."
Grybauskaite studied and taught political economy during the Soviet era and began her public career after independence.
She was named deputy finance minister from 1999 to 2000, deputy foreign minister in 2000, and finance minister from 2001 to 2004.
"She's never been elected to a post. She's always been nominated. So she lacks the knowledge and experience to know how to act in elected office," cautioned political scientist Algis Krupavicius.
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