By Andrius Sytas
VILNIUS/PANEVEZYS, Lithuania (Reuters) -Lithuania began counting votes on Sunday after a parliamentary election dominated by concerns over living costs and potential threats from neighbouring Russia, with the opposition Social Democrats tipped as the largest party but short of a majority.
Some 52.1% of the Baltic nation’s 2.3 million eligible voters cast a ballot, up from 47.2% four years ago, official data showed, but there was no exit poll and results were expected to emerge only after midnight (2100 GMT).
The outgoing centre-right coalition of Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte has seen its popularity eroded by inflation that topped 20% two years ago, as well as by deteriorating public services and a widening gap between rich and poor.
“I got bored with the old government. I want something new”, Hendrikas Varkalis, 75, said after casting his vote in Panevezys, about 100 kilometres northwest of the capital Vilnius.
Opinion polls suggest Simonyte’s Homeland Union will win just 9%, behind the Social Democrats on 18% and the anti-establishment Nemunas Dawn on 12%, though the eventual shape of a future coalition will depend on how smaller parties perform.
The Baltic state of 2.9 million people has a hybrid voting system in which half of the parliament is elected by popular vote, with a 5% threshold needed to win seats. The other half is chosen on a district basis, a process which favours larger parties.
If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in a district, its top two candidates face each other in a run-off on Oct. 27.
Domestic issues loomed large in the election campaign, with the Social Democrats vowing to tackle increased inequality by raising taxes on wealthier Lithuanians to help fund more spending on healthcare and social spending.
But national security is also a major concern in Lithuania, which is part of the eastern flank of NATO and the European Union and shares a border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad as well as with Belarus, a close Moscow ally.
Three-quarters of Lithuanians believe that Russia could attack their country in the near future, a Baltijos Tyrimai/ELTA poll found in May.
The main parties strongly support Ukraine in its war with invading Russian forces and back increased defence spending.
Election posters describe Simonyte as “the trustworthy guarantee for troubled times”, holding a large umbrella to protect a young family with a child, with a soldier in the background.
“We need continuity for our country … so we can keep up the work towards protecting ourselves from the enemy”, said Rimantas Latvenas, 70, in Panevezys.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius and Janis Laizans in Panevezys; Editing by Hugh Lawson and David Holmes)
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