Politicians, public cast votes in Lithuanian parliamentary election

Record ID: 82831

  • Title: Politicians, public cast votes in Lithuanian parliamentary election
  • Date: 9th October 2016
  • Summary: VILNIUS, LITHUANIA (OCTOBER 9, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** EXTERIOR OF BUILDING BEING USED AS POLLING STATION POSTER OF PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES JOURNALISTS FILMING CHAIRMAN OF HOMELAND UNION PARTY, GABRIELIUS LANDSBERGIS, WATCHING AS HIS DAUGHTERS GERTRUDA AND MARTA CAST HIS BALLOT PAPERS JOURNALISTS FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (Lithuanian) CHAIRMAN O
  • Embargoed: 24th October 2016 13:07
  • Keywords: vote election campaign Baltics
  • Location: VILNIUS, LITHUANIA
  • City: VILNIUS, LITHUANIA
  • Country: Lithuania
  • Reuters ID: LVA00153A90EF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Lithuania's top politicians cast their votes on Sunday (October 9) in a first round parliamentary election after a campaign fought largely over the sluggish economy.
    Opinion polls show Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius' centre-left party is best placed to win this round. But his three-party coalition could easily be toppled by shifting alliances after a run-off on October 23.
    If Butkevicius loses out, the opposition centre-right Homeland Union, led by Gabrielius Landsbergis, is likely to win power. A grandson of Lithuania's first leader after independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, Landsbergis at 34 would become the youngest premier in the European Union.
    Landsbergis told journalists in Vilnius he believed his party would win "40 to 50 seats".
    Butkevicius estimated a result of "35 to 40 members of parliament" for his Social Democrats.
    Both leaders say they are the best suited to improving economic growth, which at about two to three percent is less than half of stellar rates a decade ago. That would help to halt the flow of people out of the country.
    The population has shrunk to 2.9 million from 3.3 million a decade ago as Lithuanians head for richer parts of Europe.
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