BNS: Ruling conservatives win Lithuania's EP vote
VILNIUS, Jun 08, BNS - Lithuania's ruling Homeland Union - Lithuanian Christian Democrat Party on Sunday won the country's vote in elections for European Parliament (EP). The Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius-led conservatives secured 26.08 percent of the vote, landing them four mandates, the domestic election authority results from all of the 2,035 electoral districts revealed.
Lithuania's conservatives had two mandates in the outgoing EP, namely Vytautas Landsbergis and Laima Andrikiene. Six parties will divide up the 12 MEP mandates going to Lithuania in these elections. Second in Sunday's race, the opposition Social Democrat Party was backed by 18.14 pct of those who cast their votes in the elections - a result likely to yield three mandates in the new EP. The third runner-up, Order and Justice Party, got 11.93 pct of the vote, with two ensuing MEP mandates. The Labor Party (8.59 pct of the vote), the Lithuanian Poles' Electoral Action (8.25 pct) and the Liberal Movement (7.15 pct) are each looking at one MEP mandate. None of the other hopefuls in the EP elections got passed the required five percent threshold for getting MEP mandates. The Liberal and Center Union scored 3.37 pct of the vote, the Lithuanian Center Union got 3.01 pct, with 2.86 pct in favor of the Christian Conservative Social Union, 2.37 pct of the Front Party, 1.83 pct of the Lithuanian Farmers' National Union, 1.31 pct of the Civil Democracy Union, 1.23 pct of the Samogitian Party, 1.01 pct of the National Resurrection Party and, finally, the Lithuanian Way with backing from just 0.28 pct of voters in Sunday's elections. The elections were marked with record-low voter turnout, with the figureat a mere 20.9 percent. Elections for the new-term of the 736-seat EP have come to a close throughout the European Union (EU).