Leftist Coalition Set to Win Lithuanian Elections

Posted October 28th, 2012 at 8:45 pm (UTC-5)
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A partial vote count in Lithuania suggests that opposition leftist parties are on track to win a second round of voting in parliamentary elections in the Baltic state.

The Social Democratic Party and the Labor Party apparently have benefited from voter anger over austerity measures imposed by Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius. Both parties ran on the promise that they would ease the pain of budget cutbacks, while fulfilling their fiscal responsibility.

The Social Democrats have secured at least 38 seats in the 141-member Parliament after two rounds of voting.

Prime Minister Kubilius' Homeland Union is expected to take at least 32 seats.

The two leading opposition parties have said they would form a coalition with a smaller populist party, Order and Justice, to form a government.

Lithuania, a former Soviet republic, is one of the poorest countries in the European Union.

Mr. Kubilius lead Lithuania when the global economic crisis hit three years ago, forcing him to institute unpopular austerity measures.

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