Parliamentary elections were held in Lithuania. They were influenced by the fear of rising living costs and the Russian threat – World – News

Polling stations closed in Lithuania on Sunday night and counting began in a parliamentary election dominated by concerns about the cost of living and a potential threat from neighboring Russia. It is assumed that the social democrats will win the most parliamentary mandates, but they will probably not have a majority in the parliament, Reuters reported.

The polling stations closed at 20:00 local time. According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), 40.31 percent of all voters exercised their right to vote on Sunday. In addition, 11.75 percent of voters voted early.

Overall, the turnout is around 52 percent, which is several percentage points more than in 2020, when 48 percent of voters voted in the general election, added the LRT.lt news website.

In Lithuania, the so-called exit polls. The CEC expects that the results of the elections will be known a few hours after midnight, said its president Lina Petroniené.

Pre-election opinion polls suggested that the hitherto ruling centre-right Patriotic Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) party would win just nine percent of the vote, while the opposition Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSPD) could receive votes from 18 percent of the electorate.

According to the survey, the anti-system and populist party Úsvit Nemanu (Nemuno aúšra) could end up in second place with 12 percent. The composition of the government will probably depend on the decision of the smaller parties that get into the parliament.

Chief Police Commander Renatas Požela said at a press conference after the closing of polling stations that this year’s elections were one of the most peaceful. However, the police began investigating two cases related to the elections: one related to the attack on MEP Petras Gražulis, the chairman of the Union of Nation and Justice.

During the voting, the ČVK received more than 60 notifications about possible violations of electoral procedures and began to check them.

Under Lithuania’s hybrid voting system, 70 deputies are elected from the candidate lists of political parties. The other half – 71 deputies – are decided in single-mandate constituencies. In the event that no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes in any of them, a second round of voting will take place in it on October 27 – the two most successful candidates of the first round will advance to it.