Lithuanians vote Sunday in the general election's runoff, which is likely to hand the reins over to the social democrats while maintaining the Baltic country's strong support for Ukraine.
Here are five things to know about the NATO and EU member bordering Russia.
- Military spending spree -
As one of NATO's most hawkish members on Russia, Lithuania last year ranked among the alliance's top five in terms of defence spending as a share of national output.
It currently allocates 3.2 percent of its GDP to defence, well above NATO's two-percent target, and the state budget draft for next year forecasts 3.03 percent funding.
This year, Lithuania signed a deal to deploy German troops on its soil, as Berlin plans to station its brigade in the country until 2027.
Vilnius seeks to purchase the country's first tanks since regaining independence in 1990, with the aim of building a military division within the next decade.
Lithuania also ranks in the global top three donors to war-torn Ukraine in terms of GDP, according to the German-based Kiel Institute.
- Migration challenge -
Lithuania has faced several migration challenges in recent years, with unprecedented numbers of migrants attempting to cross its borders while its own population is dwindling.
The country of 2.8 million people has seen thousands of people -- mainly from the Middle East and Africa -- attempt to enter from Belarus.
Vilnius accused the Belarusian government, and its main ally Russia, of orchestrating the influx, which Minsk has denied.
In 2022, Lithuania completed a fence erected on the border with Belarus -- the barrier four metres (13 feet) high and made up of barbed wire stretches across around 550 kilometres (340 miles).
- Belarusians' second home -
The Lithuanian authorities have slammed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for the violent crackdown on protests after a 2020 presidential election that rights groups said was fraudulent.
The Baltic state now shelters tens of thousands of Belarusians, many of whom moved there as Minsk clamped down on dissent in the vote's aftermath.
Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya -- who claimed victory over Lukashenko in the disputed election -- is among the many to flee Belarus to Lithuania.
In September, Vilnius asked the International Criminal Court to probe Belarus for alleged crimes against humanity over the repressions.
The country is also a hub for some Russian opposition figures, including Leonid Volkov, an ally of the late Alexei Navalny.
- Europe's last pagans -
Lithuania's statehood stretches back to 1253 when its first king, Mindaugas, was crowned.
It made up one of medieval Europe's largest military empires -- including territories of current Belarus, Ukraine and Russia -- and was its last pagan country before Christianity took root at the end of the 14th century.
Lithuanians proudly claim that their language is the oldest surviving Indo-European language.
Modern Lithuania was an independent nation between the two World Wars. Annexed during World War II, it remained under Moscow's thumb, before becoming the first Soviet republic to declare independence in 1990.
This year, Lithuania marks two decades in the European Union and NATO. It also adopted the common EU currency, the euro, in 2015.
- Basketball fever -
Basketball is dubbed Lithuania's second religion after Catholicism, and away games have drawn groups of travelling fans clad in the national colours of yellow, green and red.
The men's national basketball team is ranked number 10 in the world, while the Zalgiris Kaunas club competes every year at Europe's top basketball competition.
Despite high hopes, the national teams failed to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games this summer.
A consolation prize for the Lithuanian fans came with the 3x3 basketball men's team winning bronze at the games.