By Nerijus Adomaitis
VILNIUS (Reuters) - Lithuanians voted on Sunday in a presidential election expected to be won by EU budget commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite, at a time of deep economic recession and disenchantment with politicians.
Grybauskaite is running as an independent, which adds to her popularity as a tough-talking, competent leader, while the main political parties are widely disliked in the current downturn and after earlier corruption allegations.
"Our local political establishment is so boring for people, and they want to see some new faces... In the difficult times I can give my experience, my knowledge to my country," she told journalists after voting in the capital Vilnius.
Grybauskaite, 53, a former finance minister, has said Lithuania must stabilise its public finances, stimulate exports, absorb EU aid faster and provide tax breaks for small and medium-sized businesses.
She is expected to win in the first round but may face a runoff to become the Baltic state's first female president. Lithuania had a female prime minister, in the early 1990s.
A recent opinion poll gave her 60 percent support and her closest rival, Algirdas Butkevicius, the leader of the opposition Social Democrat Party, just 8.4 percent.
"My main goal is to get into the second round. I hope there will be one," Butkevicius said after casting his vote.
The president is the head of state and formally appoints the prime minister and the cabinet. Presidents have some influence over economic policies, including the right to veto budget law, but presidential executive powers are limited to implementing foreign and defence policies together with the government.
After a presidential election, the government has to resign and be re-appointed, and while the new president is expected to nominate the same prime minister, the ministers can be replaced. Grybauskaite said she would look into that option, if elected.
"We need new ideas, we need someone to inspire the people to be more optimistic. The mood is quite gloomy at the moment," Elena Juozapaitiene, 23, a student of medicine, told Reuters.
Seven candidates are running in total after the parliament speaker Arunas Valinskas dropped from the race last month.
To win in the first round, a candidate must gain 50 percent of the votes with no less than a 50 percent turnout among the 2.7 million voters. If turnout is below 50 percent, a candidate needs backing from a third of all eligible voters.
Some 25.4 percent cast their votes by 2 p.m. (12 p.m. British time), a higher turnout compared to the parliamentary elections in October, but similar to the first round voting in June 2004 presidential elections, when the final turnout was 48.4 percent.
Voting began at 7 a.m. (5 a.m. British time) and was to end at 8 p.m. (6 p.m. British time), and results of an exit poll were expected immediately after the polling stations close. The first projections of official results are due about two hours later.
(Editing by Louise Ireland)