Almost half of the voters could vote in the first round / Article

Opinions from Latvijas Radio in several polling stations in the center of Vilnius show that voters are happy to exercise their right to vote for the members of the new parliament. The situation is different in each polling station – it depends on the size of the polling station, as well as the specific time. For example, in the 66th polling station in Vilnius, located in a primary school near the old town, 670 voters voted until three in the afternoon. Compared to the previous elections, the figure is one third less.

However, the number of voters has been changing throughout the day – while Latvian Radio is present in this station, the hall fills with voters and queues form in a few minutes.

Those who come to vote here are encouraged, but unlike in the morning, this time the voters who spoke to Latvian Radio admitted that it was not easy to choose who to vote for.

“It wasn’t really easy this time. I had several options, but I decided very quickly. [Izvēli mudināja] personal opinions.”

“It was really difficult. You know, different parties have different strengths, but at the same time they have weaknesses. You had to find a balance. There are some issues and issues that are particularly important to me. Like same-sex marriage and things like that because it was easy for me from that point of view [izvēlēties].”

“Not this time, but in the end I decided to vote for the Greens. My work is related to climate change research, that was my main motivation. I “I see the climate crisis approaching and I think the government is not paying enough attention to this. That’s why I decided to choose a party that has the strictest green course .”

Today’s favorable weather may benefit voter participation levels in the Lithuanian capital.

Today’s elections in Lithuania were not without significant events. In Rokiški, a woman was suspended from her job at the election commission, who was found to be on alcohol at 2.94 parts per million.

As the head of the Central Election Commission, Lina Petroniene, told the Lithuanian public media LRT in the afternoon, this incident did not disturb the voting process in the designated station.

In Panevėžys, representatives of the group “Baltie cimdi” discovered that a member of the election commission filled the ballot instead of the voter. A complaint was sent to the Central Election Commission about this matter. The institution claims in a statement that the member of the commission wanted to show the voter how to vote. In this case, a warning was given to that employee.

But as Latvijas Radio confirmed, the advertising posters of some political parties were still available near several polling stations in the center of Vilnius.

According to information from the Central Election Commission of Lithuania, a third of the country’s voters have voted by 5pm today. Adding to previous voter participation figures, a total of 44.4% of voters have cast their vote in the elections so far.

The head of the research company “Baltijos tyarimi” Rasa Ališauskiene believes that about half of eligible voters will participate in the elections.

As she said in a conversation with the ELTA group, such signs of participation show that the Lithuanians are more interested in the presidential elections. According to her, the great attention given to the Seimas elections has not affected people’s desire to go to the polls. But, as Ališauskiene says, the counting of the votes will show who the supporters of the political forces came to vote.

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Seimas elections in Lithuania

Photo: Paula Koškina

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