Homeland Union/Christian Democrats win election

VILNIUS 'sInitial results from the Lithuanian parliamentary elections indicate that theHomeland Union/Lithuanian Christian Democrats have won the most seats in themulti-mandate district, with the National Resurrection Party coming in secondand Order and Justice in third.

The Homeland Union - Lithuanian Christian Democrats won theelections with 18.51 percent of the vote, show results from 1,729 out of 2,034electoral districts.

The victorious conservative party is followed by the National ResurrectionParty 's made up primarily of celebrity figures 's which was supported by 15.11percent of voters. According to preliminary results, the Order and Justiceparty is third with 13.21 percent of votes.

The ruling Social Democrats received 11.89 percent of eligible votes, whilethe Labor Party and Youth Coalition bagged 9.56 percent.

Other parties to cross the five-percent barrier in multi-mandate votinginclude the Lithuanian Poles'Electoral Action with 5.41 percent, the Liberal Movement with 5.37 percent andthe Liberal and Center Union with 5.02 percent.

The leader of the Order and Justice Party, Rolandas Paksas, said that heexpected his party to do better in the elections.

 "Frankly speaking, I expectedbetter [results of the first round of the elections]. It seems to me that Ishould give a restrained opinion [about the first round]. In any case, thethird place and a numerous faction will enable us to influence the processes inLithuania,"Paksas told a news conference on Monday morning.

Under Lithuanian laws, 70parliamentarians are elected in multi-mandate voting, with another 71 winningearning places in the single-mandate district.

FAILED REFERENDUM

The referendum on continuing the Ignalina Nuclear PowerPlant past the scheduled shut-off date next year, which took place alongsidethe parliamentary elections, failed to gather enough votes to pass.

Almost 1.29 million of registered voters came to polling stations to markthe referendum ballots, the Central Electoral Committee announced Mondaymorning citing preliminary estimations based on the data from 2,025 out of2,034 electoral districts.

Some 88.64 percent of referendum participants voiced theirsupport for the extension of operations of the nuclear facility until theconstruction of new nuclear power plant. However, the referendum lacked some58,000 voters to succeed, the committee's chairman Zenonas Vaigauskas said.

Under Lithuanian legislation,the non-binding referendum is only valid if more than 50 percent of registeredvoters cast their votes.