Lithuanians voted strongly in favour of incumbent Mr Valdas Adamkus in a presidential election, supporting the man seen as the main force behind the country's invitations to join the European Union and NATO.
An exit poll taken by the Baltic News Service put Mr Adamkus ahead with 40.7 per cent of the vote, well ahead of the leader of rightist Liberal Democrats Mr Rolandas Paksas at 23.7 per cent, but he needs above 50 per cent to avoid a run-off on January 5th.
A confident Mr Adamkus, who is not member of any party but enjoys wide centre-right backing, said at the sidelines of an election party in Vilnius he could smell victory.
"The very first figures show that I have more than 40 per cent already," he said. "And if there are any surprises, it would just be a plus in my column." The ex-Soviet republic, which regained independence in 1991, was long seen as lagging behind neighbouring Latvia and Estonia.
But during the stewardship of Mr Adamkus it has become an open, stable society with a booming economy defying a global slump. "I'm optimistic, three months ago no one would have predicted that I would make the second round," Mr Paksas said. "We have not been working to get into the second round only, but to use the presidency to change life in this country."
Mr Adamkus, who at 76 is 30 years older than his run-off rival, has hardly campaigned for re-election to another five-year term.
He said he was too busy wrapping up NATO and EU talks. Preliminary results showed a record-low turnout of about 50 per cent - (Reuters)