On Friday evening, 14 of 15 party list lead candidates took part in the final debate before Sunday's elections. Security remained the foremost issue.

Guoda Peciulyte, a journalist at Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT, noted that the primary issue in Lithuania's current elections is Russia and the threat of war.

"Security issues are the most important, and this was also the main topic of this debate," she said.

Although the current government has done much to support Ukraine and increased defense spending, and despite Lithuania's economy growing and its incomes rising faster than inflation, Lithuanians still want a change of power.

According to the most recent opinion polls, Lithuania's Social Democratic Party (LSDP) is on a course for victory with 18 percent support. The current ruling Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) most recently polled at 9 percent support.

"In Lithuania, we have this problem of [wanting] something new every four years – so it's not a question of Social Democrats, it's a question of new," Peciulyte explained.

"And I also think they are talking a lot about people, about their living, about their salaries, about pensions and so on," she continued. "Sometimes people feel like they will be forgotten. They think, 'We have put so much attention and money and etc. for the Ukrainian question, and now it's time for us.'"

The Social Democrats, for example, have been talking about the organization and accessibility of healthcare.

Should the LSDP come to power, Lithuania's foreign policy direction will remain broadly the same; likewise important to them is the strengthening of national defense. Currently, defense spending accounts for 3.2 percent of the country's GDP.

ERR asked ahead of Sunday whether the Social Democrats plan to raise taxes to increase defense spending.

"Well, we have [Estonia's] pretty bad experience, as far as we know, right?" replied LSDP board member Gintautas Paluckas.

"But it's a matter of combining both," he acknowledged. "A little bit of taxation and a little bit of public or government debt. So in a short period of time, the public debt of the state will increase. But with the – I would say – very nice course of buying needed systems and weaponry for the country's defense systems."

Newcomers, young voters, early voting

Making a splash in these elections is the new populist force Dawn of Nemunas. The less than year-old political party is polling at 12 percent support, however several other parties have already ruled out cooperating with them.

Also represented on the ballot are politicians who talk about improving relations with Belarus and Russia.

This time, the youth political organization Learn Before You Vote organized election debates across the country as well.

"We want to educate voters, [and for them] to make conscious decisions," said Learn Before You Vote coordinator Guoda Vaitiekute. "And you know what we say – find three arguments for why you want to vote for one [candidate] or another."

Turnout for early voting has been very active – by Saturday, 174,000 people had already cast their votes. This already more than doubled the early voting numbers Lithuania saw in its 2020 Seimas elections.

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