29 Oct 2012

Second round of elections in Lithuania

10:17 am on 29 October 2012

People in Lithuania are voting in the second round of national elections. Polls opened at 7am on Sunday with half the seats being contested.

The Labour Party and the Social Democrats finished first and second in the first round on 14 October.

The Homeland Union led by prime minister Andrius Kubilius came third.

Having won 34 seats in the first round, Labour and the Social Democrats hope to win enough of the 67 seats available on Sunday to allow them to form a coalition government.

Mr Kubilius came to power in 2008, just as an extended boom fuelled by cheap Scandinavian credit came to an end.

He staved off national bankruptcy with a drastic austerity programme. The BBC reports the budget deficit has since been tamed and GDP reached growth of 5.8%, but analysts say the rebound came too late.