TIMELINE: Key dates in recent Lithuania history

Oct 12 (Reuter) - Lithuania is holding elections on Sunday.

Following are the main events in recent Lithuanian history:

Soviet occupation began after World War Two and ended with independence in 1991.

March 11, 1990 - Lithuania declared its independence by a unanimous vote of its newly elected parliament.

Sept 6, 1991 - The new Soviet parliament acknowledged Lithuania's independence on September 6, 1991

1992 - Lithuania holds its first post-Soviet elections, with the former Communist Party, renamed as the Lithuanian Democratic Labour Party (LDLP), winning 73 of 141 seats.

1996 - The LDLP win only 12 seats in elections and is replaced by a coalition between the Homeland Union and the Christian Democratic Party.

1998 - Valdas Adamkus, who had been naturalized a U.S. citizen, is elected president pledging to fight corruption.

2003 - Adamkus is defeated at the ballot box by Rolandas Paksas of the populist Liberal Democratic Party. March 2004 - Lithuania admitted into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

April 2004 - Parliament sacks Paksas for links to a Russian businessman who funded his election campaign, making Paksas the first European leader to be removed through impeachment.

May 2004 - Lithuania is admitted into the European Union.

June 2004 - Adamkus is re-elected president, defeating Farmers' and New Democracy Union leader Kazimiera Prunskiene.

November 2004 - The ruling coalition forms a new government with the Labour opposition after a deal to keep the Baltic state on track for deeper ties with the European Union.

May 2006 - The centre-left coalition government falls after one government minister is found to have misused party funds, and another government fund.

July 2006 - Parliament confirms Gediminas Kirkilas as next prime minister, filling a vacuum created by the sudden collapse of the last government five weeks before.

January 2008 - Kirkilas secures a majority in parliament by adding a fifth party to his coalition.