Lithuanian leaders hoping to win support for entering the European Union braced for a close referendum finish today, as voting went into a second day with turnout still well below a 50-per cent requirement.
The small Baltic country is one of 10 mostly ex-communist states hoping to join the 15-nation European Union next year.
The two-day referendum needs half the electorate to cast their ballots to be valid and the ex-Soviet republic has seen a frantic campaign over the past week urging people to vote.
Turnout figures from the election committee showed 27.8 per cent of voters had cast ballots by 10 a.m. today, four hours after polls reopened, and postal votes of 7.6 per cent brought the total participating to 35.4 per cent.
Polls close at 10 p.m., with the first results expected two to three hours later.
"Turnout this morning is almost the same as yesterday," committee chief Mr Zenonas Vaigauskas told reporters. Asked if he expected turnout to fall short of the threshold, he said: "It's hard to say, time will tell."
President Rolandas Paksas put on a brave face after yesterday's voting, saying he expected turnout to cross the 50-per cent mark, but government sources told Reuters political leaders were near panic behind closed doors. Polls show about two thirds of Lithuanians favour joining, with the naysayers trailing at just 13 per cent.
But Lithuanians suffer from political fatigue after more than a decade of post-Soviet reforms that have propelled the country of 3.5 million to the doorstep of NATO and the EU, and a one-sided campaign has stirred little enthusiasm for the poll.
The ruling leftist coalition says Lithuania would need to wait until 2007 for a second chance to join the EU along with Romania and Bulgaria if the vote fails on low turnout. But many suspect a new vote would be staged in autumn.