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Lithuania election: Centre-right opposition set to win Lithuania election: Farmers' party in shock triumph
(about 4 hours later)
Lithuania has been voting in run-off parliamentary elections, with the centre-right opposition predicted to win. A centrist agrarian party that was previously represented by a single parliamentarian has won a shock victory in Lithuanian elections.
The opposition Homeland Union has promised to create jobs and stem the exodus of people to other EU states. With nearly all the results from the second round now in, the Lithuanian Peasants and Green Union (LPGU) has won nearly 40% of the seats.
Analysts say low wages have been a major concern for voters in the past decade. The LPGU will now seek to form a coalition government.
The governing Social Democrats finished third in the first round after facing stiff competition from the opposition. It will do so either with the opposition Homeland Union or with the left-of-centre Social Democrats.
Polls closed at 20:00 (17:00 GMT) and vote counting is under way. The campaign was dominated by issues such as low wages and how best to stem a flow of Lithuanian workers to other parts of the European Union.
"I think there is a 70% (probability) that we will be in opposition," Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius told reporters after casting his vote on Sunday.
The leader of the conservative Homeland Union, Gabrielius Landsbergis, has emerged as a face of change.
"We need new ideas and new energy, especially to curb emigration and stop all the young people from fleeing," Mr Landsbergis said.
The eastern European country's population is said to have shrunk to 2.9 million from 3.3 million a decade ago with an estimated 370,000 relocating mostly to the UK, since Lithuania joined the EU in 2004.The eastern European country's population is said to have shrunk to 2.9 million from 3.3 million a decade ago with an estimated 370,000 relocating mostly to the UK, since Lithuania joined the EU in 2004.
Homeland Union and a centrist party, the Peasants and Greens, have already secured 40 seats between them in the first round. The LPGU won 54 seats in the 141-member parliament, the Homeland Union won 31 seats while the Social Democrats - the main party in the previous administration - won 17 seats, the state election commission told the AFP news agency.
They are projected to win up to 102 seats in the 141-member parliament after the run-off, according to the state electoral commission. Three other smaller parties also won seats in parliament.
A pensioner who gave only her first name, Genovaite, said her decision to vote for the opposition conservative Homeland Union was based on the party's promise to retain talent in the country. Analysts says the LPGU's surprise win reflects the fact that Lithuanians want new faces in parliament.
She told the AFP news agency her grandson was studying in Britain. "We will forge a rational coalition government and we'll chose people who want to bring about changes," LPGU prime ministerial candidate Saulius Skvernelis - a popular former police chief - said on national TV as the results came in.
"To stop emigration, you need to create jobs that will keep specialists here, at home," she said. "We'll bring transparent and responsible policies," he said. His party is expected to keep Lithuania firmly within Nato, the EU and the eurozone.
The party's official leader Ramunas Karbauskis - a billionaire industrial farmer and land baron - has raised the possibility of forming a "grand coalition" of all parties in parliament to create a technocratic government that will concentrate on stimulating economic growth.
Correspondents say the election result in effect terminates any chance of Homeland Union leader Gabrielius Landsbergis becoming prime minister.
He was tipped as favourite for the post after his party narrowly defeated the LPGU in the first round of the election on 8 October.