Lithuanians overwhelming voted "yes" in a referendum to delay the European Union-agreed shutdown of a controversial nuclear plant which provides the bulk of their power, results showed Monday.
Near-complete data from the national election commission showed that almost 92% had voted "yes" to extending the life of the Soviet-era Ignalina plant in eastern Lithuania until an alternative plant is up and running.
Turnout, however, fell short of supporters' hopes, with only 48% of the Baltic state's 2.7 million voters taking part in the plebiscite, held on the same day as elections to parliament that saw the opposition Conservatives come out on top.
Closing the Soviet-era plant by the end of 2009 was one of the conditions set down in Lithuania's E.U. membership treaty.
Lithuania joined the E.U. in 2004, 13 years after breaking free from Moscow rule.
The referendum had no binding legal value, but supporters said the goal was to try to strengthen Vilnius' hand as it scrambles to convince its 26 fellow E.U. members to let it push back the deadline to 2012.
E.U. officials have said Vilnius was "dreaming" and that the bloc was "ready to help Lithuania, but not to breach the treaty."
The drive to keep the plant open has cross-party support, but the Conservatives were fiercely critical of the referendum, arguing that it would do nothing for Lithuania's case.
"I've always said it was a mistake," Conservative leader Andrius Kubilius told AFP Monday.
"It certainly won't help Lithuania extend the life of Ignalina," he said.
Ignalina provides 70% of electricity needs in this country of 3.4 million people.
Lithuania argues that if it has to rely on power generated by fossil fuels, it will not be in a position to respect the caps set by Brussels on carbon dioxide, one of the main gases held responsible for global climate change.
Lithuania is in talks with fellow E.U. members and neighbours Latvia, Estonia and Poland on building a new plant at the Ignalina site, anticipated to come on stream by 2015, although experts suggest 2017-2020 is more realistic.
In addition, by 2015 Lithuania is due to be hooked up to Sweden's electricity grid via a cable under the Baltic Sea, and to Poland via a land line.
The country is also trying to upgrade a gas-fired power station, due to be ready in 2012, but that will leave Lithuania totally dependent on gas from its communist-era master Russia, at a time when relations with Moscow are at their frostiest in years.
Ignalina, which opened in 1983, is the same kind of plant as Chernobyl, which caused the world's worst nuclear accident when it exploded in 1986, contaminating parts of Ukraine, where it was located, as well as Belarus and Russia, the fallout reaching into all parts of the Soviet Union and even western Europe.