LSDP tops municipal elections

VILNIUS - Lithiuania's Social Democratic Party has won the country's municipal elections, with the ruling conservatives coming in second.

The Social Democrats, who were ousted from power in 2008, won a total of 328 of more than 1,500 mandates throughout the country. The ruling Christian Democrats (conservatives), meanwhile, pulled in 249 seats.

Conservative Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said the results were better than expected for the ruling party, which had been forced to take a number of major unpopular consolidation measures since taking office.

"We showed quite good results, taking into account two years of deep crisis, difficult decisions and very aggressive, populist critics," Kubilius told AFP.

The historic election saw the most women elected to office in Lithuanian history - though there is still just one woman for every three men in elected office.

Following the conservative party were the Labour party with 165 mandates, the Order and Justice party with 155 mandates, the Lithuanian Peasant Popular Union with 147 mandates, and the Liberal and Centre Union 126 mandates, along with a number of smaller parties.