Lithuanians will stand today in front of the polls to determine the outcome of the parliamentary elections. The race is dominated by issues such as the rising cost of living and potential threats from neighboring Russia, and the opposition Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (SDPL) is in the lead after the first round of elections, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
The Baltic country with a population of 2.9 million uses a hybrid electoral system in which half of the deputies are elected proportionally and the rest by majority vote; the latter favors the major parties.
Polling stations open at 7am (4am GMT) and will close at 8pm. Results are expected at midnight local time (9pm GMT).
If the left-wing Social Democratic Party (SD) succeeds in forming a government, it is expected to maintain Lithuania's hawkish stance on Russia and high defense spending.
Lithuania will spend about 3% of its gross domestic product on its armed forces this year, according to NATO estimates, which ranks it in sixth place among the alliance countries.
SD gathered 20% of the votes in the first round on October 14 and thus became the first political force, ahead of the ruling Union "Fatherland" which received 18%, and the anti-system formation "Nyamuno Aushra" ("Nemanska zora"), whose result was 15%.
Support for Prime Minister Ingrid Shimonite's three-party center-right coalition is eroding amid high inflation, which reached 20% two years ago, deteriorating public services and a widening gap between rich and poor.
After the first round of the elections, SD leader Vilia Blinkevičute said that she is ready to negotiate to form a coalition government with two other formations - "For Lithuania" and "Lithuanian Union of Peasants and Greens".
The Social Democrats concluded a pact with the opposition parties to support all the candidates who stand in the run-offs against the nominations of the "Fatherland" Union. of the Shimonites.
Attention in the election race was focused on domestic economic issues. SD promised to fight rising inequality by raising taxes on wealthier Lithuanians in order to provide more money for health care and social assistance.
But national security is also a topic of serious concern in Lithuania, which sits on the eastern flank of NATO and the EU and borders the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Moscow's ally Belarus.
Three-quarters of Lithuanians believe that Russia could attack their country in the near future, according to a May poll by "Baltijos Tirimai"/ELTA.