VILNIUS (AFP) — Lithuanians are voting on Sunday in a general election likely to mark comebacks for ex-president Rolandas Paksas or former political star Viktor Uspaskich.
However, the expected lack of a clear winner was set to lead to complex coalition talks.
The tight parliamentary race was combined with a referendum on delaying the shutdown of a controversial nuclear power plant which provides most of Lithuania's electricity.
Ex-stunt pilot Paksas, a former prime minister, was elected president in 2003, but a year later became Europe's first head of state to be removed by impeachment after he was embroiled in a corruption scandal.
He has always denied any wrongdoing, but is barred from any office requiring an oath. Party deputy Valentinas Mazuronis is his pick for premier.
"My ultimate goal is to return to the post of president, so justice will be done," Paksas said.
Russian-born Uspaskich -- nicknamed "Mister Gherkin" because his picture featured on jars of pickled cucumbers made by his food firm -- swept into politics in 2004.
He steered Labour to election success and become economy minister, but quit in a graft scandal in 2005, fled to Russia the following year and only returned to face investigators in 2007.
Paksas's Order and Justice Party, Uspaskich's Labour party and the right-wing Conservatives have been jostling at the top of the polls as they seek to oust Social Democrat Gediminas Kirkilas, Lithuania's 11th prime minister since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Order and Justice and Labour's pledges include tax cuts, wage and pension hikes and efforts to battle rising prices, striking a chord with voters who have lost confidence in mainstream lawmakers -- parliament is one of the least-trusted institutions here -- as an economic boom tails off in the face of rampant inflation and the global crisis.
Polls put the Social Democrats a low fourth.
No party is expected to win a majority in the 141-member, single chamber Seimas, raising the spectre of tortuous coalition talks.
The Social Democrats have ruled since 2001, building coalitions before and since the last elections in 2004.
Kirkilas became premier in 2006 in a reshuffle.
His five-party coalition, which included small liberal and farmers' parties, had a narrow hold on parliament and, according to critics, ducked much-needed, but unpopular, public sector and tax reforms.
Paksas told AFP he was "looking to work with all the parties which win the trust of voters.
"I'm sure Order and Justice will form a coalition. I don't want to talk to the Social Democrats and Conservatives, but if the voters give them enough seats, I'll have to," he said after voting.
Uspaskich, meanwhile, said Labour was ready to talk even to its bitter mainstream rivals.
"We can forget all the ambitions and speechifying. Now we need to think about our job. We will seek maximum tolerance and compromise and try to unite everyone," he said.
Conservative leader Andrius Kubilius told AFP he had "big doubts" about governing with either man -- nor with "the kind of Social Democrats we have now," but sources said coalition talks had already begun in a drive to keep the populist pair out of government.
Analysts said the Social Democrats could also join a populist coalition even if Kirkilas is axed.
Lithuania's 2.7 million voters are far from enthused by the election, with a forecast 40 percent turnout, down from 47 percent in 2004. By 2:00pm (1100 GMT), with six hours of polling to go, the rate was 25 percent.
Seventy lawmakers are elected by proportional representation from party lists and 71 in single-member constituencies where run-off rounds may be held on October 26.
Sunday's referendum is part of a battle to delay the closure of Ignalina, a Soviet-era nuclear power station which provides 70 percent of Lithuania's electricity.
The referendum is not binding, but supporters say the goal is to convince the EU to shift the deadline to 2012, when new power links would be ready. EU diplomats have said Brussels will not allow Vilnius to breach its membership treaty.
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