REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW ON ELECTIONS TO THE SEIMAS
(As last amended on 14 January 2020 – No XIII-2783)
SECTION ONE
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1. Principles of the election of Members of the Seimas
Members of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter: the ‘Seimas’) shall be elected for a four-year term in single-member constituencies and the multi-member constituency by universal and equal suffrage, by secret ballot, at a direct, mixed-system election.
Article 11 Amendment of the Law
This Law may not be amended from the announcement of the date of a regular election to the Seimas through the proclamation of the final results of the election or the declaration of the election results invalid, unless where it is necessary to implement a ruling of the Constitutional Court.
Note in the Register of Legal Acts. The Law will be supplemented with Article 11 as of 1 July 2020.
Article 2. Universal suffrage
1. Citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who are 18 years of age on polling day shall be eligible to vote. Citizens who have been declared legally incapacitated by the court shall not participate in an election.
2. A citizen of the Republic of Lithuania who is not under allegiance to a foreign state and is at least 25 years of age on polling day, and who permanently resides in Lithuania may stand for election as a Member of the Seimas. A citizen of the Republic of Lithuania whose data on the place of residence are entered on the Residents’ Register of the Republic of Lithuania, or a citizen who, under the Civil Code, is recognised as having a permanent place of residence in the Republic of Lithuania shall be considered to be a permanent resident of the Republic of Lithuania,
3. Persons who, with 65 days remaining before an election, have not completed a court-imposed sentence as well as persons who have been declared legally incapacitated and lacking criminal responsibility by the court may not stand for election as Members of the Seimas.
4. Judges during their term of office, persons who on polling day are in the compulsory military service or alternative national defence service, as well as servicemen of the professional military service or officers of a statutory institution or establishment who have not been transferred to the reserve at least 65 days before an election, or persons who may not participate in activities of political parties according to special laws or statutes may not be elected as members of the Seimas.
5. A person who has been removed from office or his mandate of a Member of the Seimas has been cancelled by the Seimas in accordance with impeachment proceedings may not be elected as a Member of the Seimas, provided that less than four years have elapsed from the entry into force of the decision to remove him from office or to cancel his mandate of a Member of the Seimas.
6. Other direct or indirect abridgements of suffrage of the citizens of the Republic of Lithuania on the grounds of their origin, political convictions, social or property status, nationality, sex, disability, education, language, religion, or the type or character of their occupation shall be prohibited.
Article 3. Equal suffrage
Every citizen of the Republic of Lithuania eligible to vote shall have one vote in a single-member constituency and one vote in the multi-member constituency, and these votes shall have the same value as the votes of any other citizen eligible to vote. Every voter shall have an equal right to express his opinion about the candidates who are on the list of candidates for which he votes in the multi-member constituency, and this opinion shall have the same value as the opinion of any other voter who has voted for this list.
Article 4. Direct election
There shall be no voting through intermediaries in an election to the Seimas.
Article 5. Secret ballot
1. Voters shall vote in person and by secret ballot. Voting for another person or proxy voting hall be prohibited.
2. It shall be prohibited to control the will of voters in an election. It shall be prohibited to influence the will of a voter to vote for or against any candidate or a list of candidates. A voter must be provided with the conditions to fill in a ballot paper in secret and without interference. It shall be prohibited to handle a ballot paper in such a way that the secrecy of the ballot might be disclosed. If someone gets to know the secrecy of another person’s vote, it shall be prohibited to divulge it.
3. A voter, who because of his disability is unable to vote independently, must be provided with the possibility of free choice to vote with the assistance of another person whom he trusts, as it is provided for in Article 66(6) of this Law or to take the opportunity to vote in a polling booth adapted for persons with disabilities.
Article 51 Prohibition to bribe voters
1. A voter shall be a person eligible to vote at an election to the Seimas. During political campaign of an election to the Seimas, i.e. from the announcement of the date of an election to the Seimas until the end of election campaigning as set out by this Law, and also on polling day, it shall be prohibited to directly or indirectly buy votes, to induce by offering gifts or other rewards a voter or a person eligible to vote to attend or not to attend the election and/or to vote for or against one or another person to be nominated as a candidate, for or against a candidate or a list of candidates, also to promise to reward voters for voting after the election with the purpose to affect the will of voters regarding particular political parties, candidates or persons to be nominated as candidates and thus hinder citizens from implementing their right to vote.
2. Distribution free of charge of printed matter (an action programme or an election programme, leaflets, calendars, postcards, stickers of biographical or other information character) marked with symbols of a political party, a list of candidates, a candidate or a person who is intended to be nominated as a candidate for Member of the Seimas or who intends to declare himself a candidate for Member of the Seimas shall not be considered as bribery of voters.
3. Constituency electoral committees shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, examine and decide on the facts of bribery of voters and the Central Electoral Commission shall evaluate such facts. The Central Electoral Commission shall publish the established facts of bribery on its website together with a pledge of the candidate who has violated this Article to adhere to the prohibition to bribe voters. After the recognition of the facts of bribery of voters as gross violation of this Law, the consequences defined in this Law and other laws shall arise.
Article 6. Announcement of the date of an election to the Seimas
1. A regular election to the Seimas shall be announced by the President of the Republic, and an early election to the Seimas may be announced by the Seimas or the President of the Republic.
2. A regular election to the Seimas shall be held in the year of the expiry of the powers of the Members of the Seimas on the second Sunday in October. Such election shall be announced by the President of Republic not later than six months prior to the expiry of the powers of the Members of the Seimas. If, with four months remaining before the expiry of the powers of the Members of the Seimas, the President of the Republic has not yet announced the date of a regular election to the Seimas, the Central Electoral Commission shall conduct a regular election to the Seimas on the above-mentioned date.
3. If a regular election to the Seimas must be held in time of war, the Seimas or the President of the Republic shall take a decision to prolong the powers of the Seimas. In this event, an election must be called not later than within three months after the end of war.
4. An early election to the Seimas may be held on the decision of the Seimas adopted by not less than a 3/5 majority vote of all the Members of the Seimas, or announced by the President of the Republic in the cases referred to in Article 58(2) of the Constitution. An election to the new Seimas must be held within three months from the adoption of the decision on an early election. The day of an election to the new Seimas shall be indicated in the decree of the President of the Republic on a regular election to the Seimas, and in the resolution of the Seimas or the decree of the President of the Republic on an early election to the Seimas. A regular election to the Seimas following the early election to the Seimas shall be held on the date referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article.
5. The day of an election to the new Seimas shall be the day when ballot papers are cast in the multi-member constituency and in the first election round of single-member constituencies. A polling day shall also be the day of run-off voting. Voting by envelopes and in other ways provided for by this Law shall be carried out before polling day or finished on polling day as it is established by this Law. The term which is calculated from polling day and may be implemented only when election results are declared shall commence on the day of proclamation of the final election results.
6. The date of a by-election or a rerun election in a single-member constituency shall be announced by the Central Electoral Commission in the cases set out by this Law within 15 days after the day when the grounds for conduct of such an election occur, unless otherwise provided for by this Law.
Article 7. Openness of preparation and conduct of an election
1. The public and the members of an electoral committee shall be notified by electronic means identified by the Central Electoral Commission about a meeting of this electoral committee at least 24 hours before the start of the meeting.
2. Meetings and voting of electoral committees shall be open and may be observed by representatives and observers of political parties (hereinafter: ‘parties’) or candidates for Members of the Seimas upon producing the certificates in the set form or credentials approved with the seal of the organisations which have authorised them, and also by representatives of the media upon producing their service cards or employment certificates. A candidate for Member of the Seimas may participate in a meeting of an electoral committee if a decision concerning his personal activities or circumstances directly related to his person is being taken or if he has been invited to participate in the meeting by the chairman of the electoral committee.
3. Persons present in the meeting room may, from their seats, record, write down in shorthand or take down everything that is said at the meeting, photograph, film or make video recordings. Taking photographs or filming, making video recordings that requires walking around the premises or using special lighting equipment, as well as live radio or television broadcasting of meetings shall be subject to the permission of the chairman of the electoral committee.
4. Electoral committees may not hold closed meetings. The Central Electoral Commission may prohibit anyone from entering the workrooms of the service staff of electoral committees, document storage facilities if it is necessary to guarantee undisturbed working conditions of the staff and to protect election documents.
5. If there are reasons to believe that during a meeting of an electoral committee a threat to the security of the participants of the meeting may arise, the chairman of the committee may instruct the police to check the documents and belongings of the persons entering the meeting room or carry out their personal search.
6. An electoral committee may remove from the meeting room persons who interfere with the work of the committee.
Article 8. Expenditure related to preparation and conduct of an election
Expenditure related to the preparation and conduct of an election to the Seimas shall be covered from the state and municipal budgets. Expenditure of electoral committees related to the organisation and conduct of an election, costs of the adaptation of ballot papers and other election material specified by the Central Electoral Commission to the needs of persons with disabilities shall be covered from the state budget; work of members of the electoral committees and the service staff thereof as well as the voting commissions shall also be remunerated from the state budget. Maintenance of the office space of voting commissions, municipal electoral committees and polling district electoral committees, the acquisition and keeping of the equipment specified by the Central Electoral Commission, the setting-up of polling stations and their adaptation to the needs of persons with disabilities and, where there are no possibilities to properly set up the polling stations or to adapt them to the needs of persons with disabilities, the rent of suitable premises shall be covered from municipal budgets. Expenditure related to transportation of voters to polling districts to vote, where this is organised in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, shall be paid from the state and municipal budgets. If the municipal administration fails to provide adequate premises or equipment for the office of a polling district and a polling station, state budget funds shall be used for this purpose by a decision of the Central Electoral Commission. In such a case, the actual expenses on polling stations and the inventory stock shall be recovered without suit by the Central Electoral Commission from the municipality within two months after the election.
CHAPTER TWO
CONSTITUENCIES AND POLLING DISTRICTS
Article 9. Formation of Constituencies
1. For the organisation and conduct of an election, 71 single-member constituencies shall be set up, taking into consideration the number of voters in the constituency, the division of the territory of the Republic of Lithuania into single-member constituencies during the previous election to the Seimas and the administrative-territorial division. A constituency shall be formed from polling districts which have common boundaries. The number of voters in constituencies must be from 0.9 to 1.1 of the average number of voters in all single-member constituencies. The Central Electoral Commission, not later than 210 days before an election, shall establish, and not later than 180 days before an election, shall publish on its website the list of polling districts forming the constituencies, the addresses and telephone numbers of their polling stations, the number of voters in a constituency, and the addresses and telephone numbers of constituency electoral committees. When forming a single-member constituency where the voters referred to in Article 33(1) of this Law cast their votes, the number of the constituency’s voters shall be determined by counting the number of the voters who participated at the last election and voted in diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania.
2. One multi-member constituency shall also be formed where all citizens of the Republic of Lithuania eligible to vote shall cast their votes. 70 Members of the Seimas shall be elected in this constituency according to the proportional system of elections.
Article 10. Formation of polling districts
1. Seeking to ensure convenient access for voters to polling stations and depending on the number of voters, the territories of municipalities shall be divided into polling districts.
2. Division of the territory of a municipality, which is permanent when organising and conducting elections and referendums, when necessary into polling districts shall, on the recommendation of the director of the municipal administration, be changed by the Central Electoral Commission. The list of the approved polling districts and the changes therein shall be published by the Central Electoral Commission on its website.
3. Not more than 5 000 voters may reside in the territory of a polling district.
4. Where necessary, the boundaries of a polling district shall be adjusted and the address of a polling station shall be changed within the boundaries of the single-member constituency, but not later than 100 days before an election. The recommendation of the director of the municipal administration to approve the division of the territory of a municipality into polling districts shall specify the proposed name of a polling district, the addresses comprising the polling district, the number of voters in the polling district which is being formed, the address of a polling station and the co-ordinates of the address of the building housing the polling station. The recommendation on changes in the division of the territory of a municipality into polling districts shall specify the proposed changes. These changes must be submitted to the Central Electoral Commission not later than 110 days before an election. In the event when it is impossible to have polling at the earlier-designated polling stations, the Central Electoral Commission may, on the recommendation of the constituency electoral committee, change the address of the polling station within a shorter time limit than the one specified in this Article.
5. The list of the approved polling districts and changes therein shall be published by the Central Electoral Commission at least 100 days before an election.
CHAPTER THREE
ORGANISATION OF AN ELECTION
Article 11. Electoral committees
1. An election to the Seimas shall be organised and conducted by:
1) the Central Electoral Commission;
2) constituency electoral committees; and
3) polling district electoral committees.
2. A citizen of the Republic of Lithuania may be nominated to an electoral committee provided he is eligible to stand as a candidate in an election to the Seimas (without taking into consideration the minimum age limit set for a candidate for Member of the Seimas, but who is not younger than 18 years of age on polling day) and has not been dismissed from the electoral or referendum committee in the course of the last three elections to the Seimas, presidential elections, elections to the European Parliament, elections to municipal councils or referendums for violation of the Law on Elections to the Seimas, the Law on Presidential Elections, the Law on Elections to Municipal Councils, the Law on Elections to the European Parliament or the Law on Referendums.
3. The same person may not concurrently be: a member of the electoral committee and a candidate for member of the Seimas; a candidate for Member of the Seimas and an election representative; an election representative and a member of the electoral committee; a candidate for Member of the Seimas and an election observer; a member of the electoral committee and an election observer. If a member of the electoral committee seeks to stand as a candidate in an election to the Seimas, at least 10 days in advance of giving his consent to stand as a candidate in an election to the Seimas or before he starts collecting citizens’ signatures, he must resign from the post of a member of the electoral committee. If a member of the electoral committee fails to do so, he shall be dismissed from the electoral committee for violation of this Law and shall not be registered as a candidate for Member of the Seimas or shall be removed from the list of candidates.
4. A person shall not be considered to be of good repute where he:
1) has been found guilty, by an effective judgment of conviction, of a criminal act and his prior conviction has not expired yet or has not been expunged;
2) has been dismissed from the office to which he was appointed or elected, because he broke an oath or pledge, degraded the name of the officer and less than three years have elapsed from the date of his dismissal or entry into force of the decision to cancel the mandate;
3) has been dismissed from work, from the office or has lost the right to engage in the relevant activity for failure to comply with the requirements of good repute set out by law and for a breach of ethics laid down by legal acts, and less than three years have elapsed from the date of the dismissal from work, from the office or loss of the right to engage in the relevant activity;
4) he is a member of an organisation which is prohibited in accordance with the procedure laid down by law.
5. The Central Electoral Commission shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down by it, organise trainings for members and chairmen of the electoral committees.
Version of paragraph 6 valid as of 1 January 2022:
6. The Central Electoral Commission shall, within three days of the entry into force of the decision of the Central Electoral Commission to set up constituency electoral committees and within three days of the entry into force of the decisions of the constituency electoral committees to set up polling district electoral committees, publish on its website the lists of members of the electoral committees and the data regarding the members of the electoral committees (their names, posts, entities nominating committee members, names and numbers, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of the constituencies and polling districts). The lists of members of electoral committees shall be published and revised no later than by the end of political campaign.
Article 111 Reserve list of members of electoral and referendum committees
1. In order to ensure the setting-up of electoral and referendum committees provided for in this Law and other electoral laws as well as the Law on Referendums, the Central Electoral Commission shall draw up a reserve list of members of electoral and referendum committees. The missing members of the electoral and referendum committees provided for in this Law and other electoral laws as well as the Law on Referendums shall be appointed from the said reserve list. The reserve list of members of electoral and referendum committees shall be drawn up and updated in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission.
2. A person shall have the right to submit an application in the form set out by the Central Electoral Commission for inclusion on the reserve list of members of electoral and referendum committees. This application may be submitted electronically in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission. Upon receipt of such an application, the Central Electoral Commission shall verify whether the person meets the requirements laid down in the electoral laws, the Law on Referendums or other legal acts for the members of the relevant electoral or referendum committees and shall take a decision to include the person on the reserve list of members of electoral and referendum committees or shall take a reasoned decision not to include the person on the reserve list. The data of persons included on this reserve list shall be processed in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Legal Protection of Personal Data and Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ 2016 L 119, p. 1).
3. Persons may be appointed as members of the specific electoral or referendum committees from the reserve list of members of electoral and referendum committees only if they meet the requirements for the members of these committees.
Article 12. Repealed as of 1 August 2002.
Article 13. Repealed as of 1 August 2002.
Article 14. Repealed as of 1 August 2002.
Article 15. Formation of constituency electoral committees
1. The Central Electoral Commission shall, for the period of an election, form constituency electoral committees no later than 95 days prior to the election.
2. Constituency electoral committees shall be composed of:
1) a person proposed by the Minister of Justice, having a university law degree, who resides or works in the territory of the municipality the whole or a part whereof has been designated to this constituency;
2) a person proposed by the Lithuanian Lawyers’ Association, having a university law degree, who resides or works in the territory of the municipality the whole or a part whereof has been designated to this constituency;
3) a career civil servant proposed by the director of the municipal administration and employed in the administration of each municipality the whole or a part whereof has been designated to this constituency; and
4) persons proposed by the parties which have received the mandates of the Members of the Seimas in the multi-member constituency.
3. The Minister of Justice, the Lithuanian Lawyers’ Association and the director of the municipal administration may propose more candidates. If the territory of a constituency is made up of the territories of several municipalities, the committee must include career civil servants employed in the administrations of all of these municipalities, proposed by the directors of the administrations of these municipalities.
4. Parties which have received the mandates of the Members of the Seimas in the multi-member constituency according to the list of candidates (joint list) shall have the right to propose one representative to each constituency electoral committee according to one such list of candidates (joint list) proposed in the multi-member constituency. If the representatives proposed by the parties meet the requirements of this Law, the Central Electoral Commission may not turn down such candidates. Where no candidates have been proposed, the Central Electoral Commission may, instead of them, additionally appoint as committee members the persons who are proposed by the Minister of Justice, the Lithuanian Lawyers’ Association or the director of the municipal administration.
5. In all cases, at least three committee members must be the persons appointed to a constituency electoral committee from the candidates proposed by the Minister of Justice, the Lithuanian Lawyers’ Association and the director of the municipal administration. If these people make up less than three members of the constituency electoral committee, it shall be enlarged by including members from the persons proposed by the Minister of Justice, the Lithuanian Lawyers’ Association or the director of the municipal administration. In any event, a constituency electoral committee may not be composed of the persons belonging only to one party. All the entities entitled to propose candidates for membership of a constituency electoral committee shall submit lists of these candidates to the Central Electoral Commission not later than 102 days left before the day of an election.
6. If an election to the Seimas or a presidential election, or an election to the European Parliament, or an election to municipal councils, or a referendum are concurrently held on the same day, the same polling district electoral committees or referendum committees shall be formed. The Central Electoral Commission shall form a single – municipal electoral, constituency electoral or referendum – committee on a separate electoral or referendum territory and shall define its functions in organising and carrying out other elections or referendum.
7. If the entities referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article have not proposed candidates for membership of a constituency electoral committee, or if the candidates have been proposed after the expiry of the time limit specified in paragraph 5 of this Article, or if there is a vacancy in the constituency electoral committee, the lacking members of this committee shall be appointed by the Central Electoral Commission from the reserve list of members of the electoral and referendum committees referred to in Article 111 of this Law.
8. The Central Electoral Commission shall appoint chairman of a constituency electoral committee from the committee members. A person who has got the experience of working as the chairman or a member of the Central Electoral Commission or a constituency electoral committee, or a municipal electoral committee or who has got the experience of working as the chairman of a polling district electoral committee shall be appointed as the chairman of a constituency electoral committee.
9. During its first meeting a constituency electoral committee shall elect a deputy chairman and a secretary of the committee.
10. If a single-member constituency of Lithuanians worldwide is formed according to Article 33(2), the functions of the electoral committee of this constituency shall be performed by the Central Electoral Commission.
Article 16. Powers of a constituency electoral committee
A constituency electoral committee shall:
1) in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, inform the voters residing in the constituency about the boundaries of polling districts, their offices, working hours and polling stations;
2) supervise the implementation of this Law in the constituency;
3) form polling district electoral committees;
4) within the limits of the estimate of the constituency electoral committee approved by the Central Electoral Commission, approve the estimates of expenses of the polling district electoral committees and control the use of funds assigned in these estimates;
5) register election observers and issue certificates to them;
6) monitor voting at special polling places within the territory of the constituency;
7) draw up a list of healthcare institutions (except outpatient institutions), social care and guardianship institutions, military units, police arrest houses, remand prisons and penitentiary institutions situated within the territory of the constituency and make arrangements to organize voting at special polling places in those institutions as well as organize early voting;
8) draw up a vote counting record of the constituency;
9) during the election campaign carry out the monitoring of political advertising within the territory of the constituency and submit monitoring data to the Central Electoral Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down by it;
10) examine complaints against decisions and actions of the polling district electoral committees and take decisions, repeal decisions that are not in compliance with the requirements of laws and other legal acts; and
11) exercise other powers provided for in this Law.
Article 17. Formation of polling district electoral committees
1. No later than 65 days before an election, a constituency electoral committee shall determine the number of members of each polling district electoral committee that must be a multiple of the number of the parties (their coalitions) having the right to propose candidates to electoral committees.
2. The following shall have the right to propose an equal number of candidates to a polling district electoral committee:
1) a party or a coalition of the parties that received the mandates of Members of the Seimas in the multi-member constituency during the last election to the Seimas. If a party received mandates of Members of the Seimas while in the coalition, it may propose candidates together with the parties that participated in the coalition;
2) a political party or a coalition of the parties which during the last election to the council of the municipality, in whose territory the polling district is located, received the mandates of members of this council according to the list of nominated candidates (joint list). If a party received the mandates of council members while in the coalition, it may propose candidates together with the parties of the coalition.
3. If a party may propose candidates in accordance with the results of both the election to the Seimas and the municipal election it shall propose its candidates only according to the results of one of said elections, whichever it chooses. If one of the parties that took part in the election coalition fails to propose candidates or refuses to propose them, or if it chooses to propose candidates according to the results of another election when the coalition was formed, the other parties in this coalition shall have the right to propose candidates without the participation of the said party.
4. A party shall submit its list of candidates for members of polling district electoral committees to the constituency electoral committee not later than 48 days before an election.
5. Constituency electoral committees shall, for the period of an election, form polling district electoral committees not later than 45 days prior to an election. If a candidate proposed by the party meets the requirements set out in this Law, the constituency electoral committee may not reject the candidate.
6. If no candidates have been nominated or the nominated candidates do not meet the requirements of this Law, or they have been nominated after the expiry of the set time limit, or a seat has remained vacant in a polling district electoral committee, the constituency electoral committee shall appoint the missing members of the polling district electoral committee from the reserve list of members of electoral committees and referendum committees referred to in Article 111 of this Law in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission. If there are no persons on the said list who may be appointed as members of a specific polling district electoral committee, the missing candidates to members of the polling district electoral committee must be proposed by the director of the municipal administration. The constituency electoral committee may decrease the number of members of the polling district electoral committee, but the polling district electoral committee must comprise at least five members. In any event, a polling district electoral committee may not be composed of the persons belonging only to one party.
7. Chairmen of polling district electoral committees shall be appointed from among the committee members by constituency electoral committees. A person who has got the experience of working as the chairman or a member of an electoral committee or a person who has got the higher education shall be appointed as the chairman of a polling district electoral committee.
8. During its first meeting a polling district electoral committee shall elect a deputy chairman and a secretary of the committee.
Article 18. Powers of a polling district electoral committee
A polling district electoral committee shall:
1) receive electoral rolls of the polling district from the constituency electoral committee, provide voters, election representatives of the parties with access to such rolls, disseminate information about an election to voters, inform the constituency electoral committee about the inaccuracies noticed in the electoral roll of the polling district and transmit these data electronically in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission;
2) examine complaints about the errors made in the electoral rolls;
3) in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, organise the voting at special polling places in all healthcare institutions (except outpatient institutions), social care and guardianship institutions, military units, arrest houses, remand prisons (detention facilities) and penitentiary institutions situated within the territory of the referendum district; it shall also organise voting at home;
4) together with a representative of the municipal administration, take care of the timely preparation of polling stations, polling booths and ballot boxes pursuant to the requirements laid down in this Law;
5) organise voting at the polling district on polling day;
6) count votes, draw up a vote counting record of the polling district and transmit the data of this record electronically in accordance with the procedure established by the Central Electoral Commission;
7) examine complaints of the voters and observers of their polling district concerning the issues relating to the preparation of the election, organisation of poll, vote counting, drawing-up of vote counting records, and take decisions; and
8) exercise other powers provided for in this Law.
Article 19. Written pledge of electoral committee members
1. A member or the chairman of an electoral committee shall start holding the position in the electoral committee after having given a written pledge.
2. The Central Electoral Commission shall lay down the procedure for giving a written pledge by the members and chairmen of constituency electoral committees and polling district electoral committees. A person who gives a written pledge shall have the right to choose one of the texts of the written pledge set out in this paragraph and then to give the written pledge in compliance with it. The texts of the written pledge of a member or the chairman of an electoral committee shall read as follows:
1) ‘I, (forename, surname), swear to be faithful to the Republic of Lithuania, observe its Constitution and laws, conscientiously and honestly perform my duties in the electoral committee and refrain from actions violating laws and human rights.
So help me God.’;
2) ‘I, (forename, surname), swear to be faithful to the Republic of Lithuania, observe its Constitution and laws, conscientiously and honestly perform my duties in the electoral committee and refrain from actions violating laws and human rights.’
3. A person who has given the written pledge shall sign its text. The text of the written pledge may not be amended. The written pledge shall be effective for the whole duration of the appointment to work in the electoral committee.
4. The written pledges of the members and chairmen of electoral committees shall be kept by the electoral committees that have appointed them.
5. When appointing a member of an electoral committee, the electoral committee shall fix the date by which he must give a written pledge. A person who has not given a written pledge for more than 15 days after his appointment may not commence performing his duties in the electoral committee.
Article 20. Organisation of the work of electoral committees
1. Meetings of electoral committees shall be valid if attended by at least three-fifths of the committee members. Decisions of the committees shall be taken by open vote of the majority of the committee members attending the meeting. In the event of a tie, the committee chairman shall have a casting vote. Committee members who do not agree with the decision shall have the right to give a separate opinion in writing, which is appended to the minutes of the meeting and shall be its integral part.
2. When an election is over, the powers of the chairmen, members of constituency electoral committees and polling district electoral committees shall be terminated. A decision to terminate the powers shall be taken by the electoral committee that appointed the committee members, provided this committee and its chairman have fulfilled all the tasks assigned to it/him under law.
3. The chairman or a member of an electoral committee who has given the written pledge shall be prohibited from any form of election campaigning or to influence the voters' will in any other way. A person who has violated this requirement, the written pledge of the electoral committee member must be dismissed from the committee and may be held liable in accordance with the procedure laid down by law.
Article 21. Complaints about decisions of electoral committees taken before the close of poll
1. A party which has nominated a candidate for Member of the Seimas, a candidate for Member of the Seimas, an election representative, an election observer may appeal against a decision of the electoral committee taken before the close of the poll or against any other act of the committee to:
1) a polling district electoral committee’s to a constituency electoral committee;
2) a constituency electoral committee’s to the Central Electoral Commission;
3) the Central Electoral Commission’s to the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania.
2. A voter, an election representative who does not agree with a decision of a polling district electoral committee taken with regard to his complaint concerning the errors made in the electoral roll because of which the voter may not exercise his right to elect (he was incorrectly put on or struck off the electoral roll or if the data about the voter were inaccurately entered on the electoral roll) may appeal against the decision of the polling district committee to the administrative court of a relevant regional administrative court.
3. Decisions of the Central Electoral Commission or its other actions may be appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania within five days after the adoption of a decision but no later than before the close of the poll. A complaint must be examined not later than within 48 hours from the filing thereof. The said time limit shall also include non-work days. A decision of the court shall become effective upon its pronouncement.
4. Complaints which have been filed not in compliance with the procedure established in this Article shall not be examined and shall be referred to the electoral committee that must examine them. A polling district electoral committee, a constituency electoral committee may not forward to the Central Electoral Commission the complaints the examination of which fall within their respective competence but which have not been examined.
Article 22. Support provided to electoral committees and allocation to constituency electoral committees of state budget funds to organise an election
1. State and municipal institutions and agencies, their officers and staff, enterprises and their employees must assist electoral committees in exercising their powers and furnish information necessary for performance of their functions.
2. State and municipal institutions and agencies, their officers and staff, enterprises and their employees must, within no more than three days, consider requests submitted to them by electoral committees and give reasoned replies to the electoral committees.
3. The chairman of a constituency electoral committee shall enjoy the right to conclude fixed-term employment contracts with employees necessary to carry out ancillary works related to the organisation of an election. Such employment contracts shall be concluded by the chairman of the constituency electoral committee under the power of attorney on behalf of the Central Electoral Commission. The remuneration of the said employees shall be determined in the fixed-term employment contracts in accordance with the remuneration rates set out by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Remuneration of Employees of State and Municipal Bodies and Members of Committees.
4. State and municipal institutions, agencies and enterprises must provide electoral committees with suitable premises, equipment, computer hardware and Internet access in order to prepare and conduct an election. The municipal administration, not later than within 20 days from the announcement of the date of an election and taking into consideration the need of polling stations adapted for voters with disabilities in a specific polling district must assess whether the polling stations are suitable and adapted to the needs of voters with disabilities or elderly voters. Having established that the polling stations are not suitable, the municipal administration must adapt them to the said needs or rent premises already adapted to such needs. Re-assessment of the suitability of the polling stations shall be carried out by electoral committees together with the municipal administration not later than two months before the election. Non-governmental organisations may be involved in the assessment of the suitability of the polling stations. The suitability of the polling stations shall be assessed and the non-governmental organisations shall be involved in accordance with the procedure established by the Central Electoral Commission.
5. The Central Electoral Commission shall transfer the state budget funds allocated to the constituency electoral committees for organisation of an election to the bank account of the Central Electoral Commission opened for each constituency.
6. The Chairperson of the Central Electoral Commission shall sign an agreement with the chairman of a constituency electoral committee regarding the use of state budget funds for organisation of an election, specifying:
1) the amount of state budget funds transferred to the constituency electoral committee and the programme of the Central Electoral Commission under which these funds are allocated;
2) the targeted purpose of the use of the state budget funds;
3) planned detailed distribution of the budget funds according to the economic purpose of expenditure and the calculation of remuneration costs (appended to the agreement);
4) the procedure for accounting to the Central Electoral Commission for the organisation of the election;
5) the procedure for accounting to the Central Electoral Commission for the use of the state budget funds (indicating the economic purpose of expenditure) and submitting the accounting documents justifying the use of the funds;
6) other provisions helping the Central Electoral Commission to ensure the legitimacy, cost-effectiveness, efficiency and effectiveness of the implementation of programmes and the use of the allocated appropriations.
7. The Central Electoral Commission shall transfer the state budget funds for organisation of an election to the accounts indicated in paragraph 5 of this Article according to the constituency electoral committees’ estimates approved by the Central Electoral Commission.
8. The chairman of a constituency electoral committee shall control how the state budget funds allocated to the constituency electoral committee for the organisation of an election are used and shall account to the Central Electoral Commission for the use thereof.
9. The Central Electoral Commission shall examine a report on the use of state budget funds for the organisation of an election and supporting documents as presented by the chairman of a constituency electoral committee. Having established irregularities of financing, use of funds or accounting, the Central Electoral Commission shall initiate full recovery of damages from the guilty persons.
10. For the damage inflicted during the period of validity of an agreement on the use of state budget funds for organisation of an election, the chairman of a constituency electoral committee shall be held liable even after the expiry of the said agreement.
Article 23. Remuneration of electoral committee members
1. Remuneration at the following rates shall be fixed for a working day at electoral committees:
1) for the chairmen of the constituency electoral committees – 0.62 of a respective year’s base amount of the basic salary approved by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania for the purpose of calculating basic salaries of state politicians, judges, state officials, civil servants, employees of state and municipal budgetary institutions (hereinafter: the ‘base amount of the basic salary’);
2) for the deputy chairmen, secretaries and members of the constituency electoral committees – 0.5 of the base amount of the basic salary;
3) for the chairmen of polling district electoral committees – 0.5 of the base amount of the basic salary;
4) for the deputy chairmen, secretaries and members of the polling district electoral committees – 0.4 of the base amount of the basic salary.
2. Members, chairmen, deputy chairmen and secretaries of the electoral committees shall be paid for their work in the electoral committees against actual time sheets, without exceeding the appropriations allocated to a relevant electoral committee for remuneration. The Central Electoral Commission shall lay down a procedure for filling in the time sheets in the electoral committees. The chairman of an electoral committee concerned shall be responsible for the accuracy of the data contained in the time sheets. Limitation on the working time defined in the Labour Code of the Republic of Lithuania shall not apply to work in the electoral committees.
3. The members, chairmen, deputy chairmen and secretaries of electoral committees may receive a lump-sum cash benefit as an incentive for very good work in the electoral committees. This benefit may not be higher than 100 percent of the average of the monthly remunerations received over the entire period of work in the electoral committees, within the limits of the funds designated as incentives in the cost estimate of the committee concerned. The amount of the lump-sum cash benefit shall be determined taking into account the scale, quality and complexity of the work carried out.
4. A decision on giving incentives to chairmen of constituency electoral committees shall be taken by the Central Electoral Commission having regard to the work done by them in organising and conducting an election and reporting for the use of funds allocated to the committees. The deputy chairmen, members and secretaries of the constituency electoral committees may receive a lump-sum cash benefit as an incentive at the decision of the Central Electoral Commission, provided there is the recommendation of the chairman of the constituency electoral committee.
5. Decisions on giving incentives to chairmen of polling district electoral committees shall be taken by constituency electoral committees in view of their work in organising and conducting an election. Deputy chairmen, members and secretaries of the polling district electoral committees may receive a lump-sum cash benefit as an incentive by a decision of the respective constituency electoral committee, provided there is the recommendation of the chairman of the polling district electoral committee.
Article 24. Changing of the composition of electoral committees
1. The chairman or a member of an electoral committee may be removed from his office in the committee by the electoral committee that approved the composition of the said committee, or the Central Electoral Commission.
2. An electoral committee may consider only a reasoned proposal of a party or a coalition to recall a member of the electoral committee whom it has nominated.
3. If necessary, a new chairman or member of an electoral committee may be appointed according to the procedure established by this Law even after the expiration of the time limit set in Article 15(1) and Article 17(5).
CHAPTER FOUR
ELECTORAL ROLLS AND ELECTION NOTICES
Article 25. Electoral rolls
1. In order to organise and conduct an election the following electoral rolls shall be drawn up:
1) the electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania;
2) single-member constituency electoral rolls; and
3) polling district electoral rolls.
2. Electoral rolls shall be drawn up twice – preliminary and final. These electoral rolls may be used only for organisation and conduct of an election.
3. The procedure for drawing up electoral rolls must be such that every citizen of the Republic of Lithuania entitled to vote shall be entered on electoral rolls. No one may be entered on an electoral roll more than once.
4. Repealed as of 30 April 2008.
5. The electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania and electoral rolls of the single-member constituencies shall be drawn up electronically and managed by the Central Electoral Commission together with the administrator of the Residents’ Register of the Republic of Lithuania. Polling district electoral rolls shall be printed. The procedure for drawing up electoral rolls, their form, the method of drawing up them and the procedure for using them shall be laid down by the Central Electoral Commission. When drawing up electoral rolls, the following personal data shall be stated:
1) on the electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania - the forename, surname, personal number, date of birth, number of the document confirming the person’s citizenship, home address and grounds for entering the address in the Residents’ Register;
2) on the single-member constituency electoral rolls: the forename, surname, personal number, date of birth, home address and grounds for entering the address in the Residents’ Register;
3) on the polling district electoral rolls: the forename, surname and the home address (indicated only in the annex to the polling district electoral roll);
6. Repealed as of 1 February 2020.
Article 26. General procedure for entering citizens on the electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania
1. All citizens of the Republic of Lithuania entitled to vote shall be entered on the electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania according to the data of issuance of the document (passport or identity card) confirming the citizenship and according to the Residents' Register of the Republic of Lithuania. State and municipal institutions and agencies issuing the documents confirming citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania, keeping information related to the declaration of citizens’ home address, registering citizens’ death and loss of citizenship shall also be responsible for a timely and proper updating of the Residents’ Register of the Republic of Lithuania. Rolls drawn up according to the data of the Residents’ Register of the Republic of Lithuania shall be preliminary.
2. Drawing-up, updating and keeping of electoral rolls shall be organised by the Central Electoral Commission on the basis of the information furnished by state and municipal institutions and constituency electoral committees.
3. The following persons shall be removed from the electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania:
1) a deceased citizen of the Republic of Lithuania;
2) a person who has lost citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania;
3) a citizen who has been declared legally incapacitated by the court.
4. Preliminary electoral rolls with changes done therein and acknowledged in accordance with the procedure established by the Central Electoral Commission shall be approved as final electoral rolls not more than seven days prior to an election. Changes in final electoral rolls may be made only subject to the consent of the Central Electoral Commission. After the election, the electronic electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania shall be kept and used according to the time limit and procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Committee.
Article 27. Single-member constituency electoral rolls
The electoral roll of a constituency in the magnetic media shall be drawn up by the Central Electoral Commission according to the electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania and the home addresses of voters indicated therein (voter’s most recent known place of residence), and shall be delivered to the constituency electoral committee not later than 39 days before an election. Electoral rolls of voters residing abroad shall also be drawn up and delivered to diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania. A roll of the citizens whose exact home address is unknown shall also be drawn up.
Article 28. Electoral rolls of polling districts
The electoral roll of a polling district shall be drawn up by the constituency electoral committee according to the electoral roll of the constituency and the home address indicated therein, and shall be delivered to the polling district electoral committee not later than 26 days prior to an election. A separate roll of citizens whose home address is not specifically known shall also be draw up. Voters, ship crew members and passengers who are unable to return to Lithuania during the period of early voting and on polling day, shall, according to the procedure established by the Central Electoral Commission, be entered on the electoral roll of the polling district in the territory of which the ship’s registration harbour or the administration of the ship’s owner is located.
Article 29. Public announcement of, and access to, electoral rolls
1. A polling district electoral committee, a diplomatic mission and a consular post of the Republic of Lithuania shall, at least 25 days prior to an election, provide access for voters to polling district electoral rolls. Voters shall only have access to their own data specified in an annex to the polling district electoral roll. It shall be prohibited to make copies of polling district electoral rolls or to duplicate or distribute such electoral rolls in any other manner. A notice must be posted at the entrance to the premises of the electoral committee indicating the duty hours of committee members and the telephone numbers at which voters may check whether their names have been entered on the electoral roll. Upon the expiry of the time limit for delivering election notices as provided for by this Law, the duty hours of the polling district electoral committee, its telephone numbers must be on display in stairwell entrances of multi-apartment residential buildings. The time and place for the exercise of this voters' right must be specified in a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania at the entrance to the premises of the electoral committee (in an additional polling place abroad at the diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania - at the entrance to the polling station).
2. The electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania and electoral rolls of single-member constituencies shall not be announced publicly, however, a voter may also be provided with the information about his entry on the electoral rolls by telephone.
Article 30. Election notices
1. An election notice shall be an information-containing invitation to participate at an election. Delivery of election notices together with other information about the election shall be organised by electoral committees. A voter himself or, at his request, any other person may access the information about the election in accordance with the data of the electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania received electronically (via the internet or a mobile short text message) according to the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission.
2. An election notice shall state:
1) the name and number of a polling district on the electoral poll of which the voter has been entered, and the address of a polling station;
2) the name and number of the single-member constituency to the territory whereof the polling district is allotted;
3) the election date, polling time at the polling station of the polling district; invitation to attend the election, other information relevant to the voter or when organising the election.
Article 31. Delivery of election notices
1. Delivery of election notices to voters shall be organised by polling district electoral committees.
2. Articles 70, 71, 72 and 73 of this Law shall lay down the procedure for delivering election notices to voters in healthcare institutions (except outpatient institutions), social care and guardianship institutions, military units, arrest houses, remand prisons and penitentiary institutions, and to voters who have gone abroad.
3. The delivery of election notices to voters must be finished at least eight days before an election. Where the poll at a presidential election or at an election to the European Parliament or at an election to municipal councils, or a referendum, or a run-off voting falls on the same day as the poll at an election to the Seimas, the same election notice may be used.
4. If a voter has not been entered on the electoral roll of the polling district but the voter’s home address is allotted to the territory of this polling district according to data of the Residents’ Register or the voter produces other evidence that he resides within the territory of this polling district, the polling district electoral committee shall provide an application form, as prescribed by the Central Electoral Commission, to be completed by the voter in order to be entered on the electoral roll of this polling district (or a member of the polling district electoral committee shall himself complete this application form; this application form may also be submitted by the voter electronically in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission) and shall forthwith notify a constituency electoral committee about this, which must have care of entering, in compliance with the above-mentioned application, the voter on the electoral roll of this polling district. An election notice shall be delivered to the voter after the electoral rolls have been updated.
Article 32. Updating of electoral rolls before drawing up final electoral rolls
1. The accuracy of preliminary electoral rolls shall be checked when transferring a voter from one electoral roll of a polling district, constituency onto another, removing from or entering a voter on the electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania.
2. A voter shall be transferred from one electoral roll onto another if it becomes clear that his home address in the preliminary electoral roll is incorrect or it has changed after the said electoral roll was drawn up.
3. Transferring of a voter from the electoral roll of one polling district onto another within the same constituency shall be executed by the constituency electoral committee which informs the Central Electoral Commission about the changes made in electoral rolls of polling districts. Transferring of the voter from the electoral roll of one constituency into another shall be executed by the Central Electoral Commission on the recommendation of the constituency electoral committee and shall inform the constituency electoral committees about the changes made. Only the Central Electoral Commission may enter a voter on or remove him from the electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania in the cases provided for in Article 26 of this Law.
Article 33. Entry on electoral rolls of citizens of the Republic of Lithuania staying abroad
1. Citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who are staying in other states shall be entered on the electoral roll of that single-member constituency on the territory whereof the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania is situated, with the exception of the case referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article.
2. Where the number (determined one year before an election to the Seimas) of the voters staying abroad, who participated in the last election and voted in the diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania, exceeds 0.9 of the average number of voters in all single-member constituencies, a constituency of Lithuanians worldwide shall established and the citizens of the Republic of Lithuania staying in other states shall be entered on the electoral roll of the constituency of Lithuanians worldwide.
3. A diplomatic mission of the Republic of Lithuania shall, not less than 15 days before an election to the Seimas, deliver to the Central Electoral Commission the electoral roll drawn up at the diplomatic mission, as well as the information about its updating. Added to this electoral roll may be the voters who, during the period of early voting and on polling day are not able to return to Lithuania and are voting in a diplomatic mission or a consular post, or in an additional polling place abroad at the diplomatic mission or the consular post of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 34. Entering on electoral rolls of voters who are in military units, aboard the ships, in arrest houses, remand prisons and penitentiary institutions
1. Voters performing the compulsory military service shall be entered on the electoral roll of a polling district on the territory of which they permanently resided before they have been called up for the compulsory military service.
2. Voters performing active military service, civil service or working under employment contracts in international military operations abroad shall be entered on the electoral rolls of a polling district within the territory of which they have declared their place of residence.
3. Voters who are aboard a ship and who will be unable to return to Lithuania during the period of early voting or on polling day shall be entered on the additional electoral roll of a polling district on whose electoral roll the ship’s crew is entered.
4. Voters who are in arrest houses, remand prisons or penitentiary institutions shall be entered on the electoral rolls of a polling district within the territory of which they have declared the place of residence. If such a person has not declared the place of residence, he, at his written request, shall be entered on the electoral roll of a polling district within the territory of which his penitentiary institution, arrest house, remand prison is situated. A person who declared the place of residence before he was placed in an arrest house, remand prison or penitentiary institution may not be entered on the electoral roll of a polling district within the territory of which his penitentiary institution, arrest house, remand prison is situated.
Article 35. Updating of electoral rolls after having drawn up final electoral rolls and on polling day
1. If following the approval of the final electoral rolls, a polling district electoral committee is addressed by a voter who has not been entered on the electoral roll of that polling district and produces the passport or identity card of the citizen of the Republic of Lithuania, the polling district electoral committee shall enter the voter on the additional electoral roll of the polling district and allow him to vote according to the procedure established by the Central Electoral Commission, and immediately communicate the voter’s forename, surname, personal number, the number of his passport or identity card and his address to the constituency electoral committee. The constituency electoral committee shall check if the voter has been entered on the constituency electoral roll and take actions to guarantee that the voter would not be able to vote twice or the ballot papers filled in by him will be counted only once. If the voter has voted twice, only the vote cast in the ballot box of the polling district shall be counted. The other vote of this citizen, received when voting by envelopes or cast according to the additional electoral roll of the polling district shall not be counted.
2. On polling day a voter who has not voted yet may, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, vote in another polling district of his single-member constituency, provided that both of the polling districts of this constituency are electronically connected to the electronic electoral roll and the polling district electoral committees may confirm that the voter has not voted in any of the polling districts, and the electoral committee of the polling district on whose electoral roll the said voter is entered confirms that an entry has been made in the electoral roll of this polling district about the arrival of the said voter to vote at another polling district and the voter's vote, if received in a voting envelope, will not be counted.
Article 36. Complaints about electoral rolls
1. A voter or a representative of the party may lodge complaints with a polling district electoral committee not later than seven days before an election about the errors made in the electoral roll because of which the voter has not been entered on the electoral roll in the manner prescribed by this Law or has been entered on several electoral rolls. The polling district electoral committee must examine the complaint and take a decision thereon either immediately or not later than within two days from the receipt thereof, if more than ten days are left until polling day.
2. The decision of the polling district electoral committee may be within three days appealed against to the relevant regional administrative court, which considers the complaint within two days. The decision of the court shall be final.
3. Comments and complaints shall not be examined after the expiry of the time limits set for lodging comments or complaints.
4. The polling district electoral committees shall report to the constituency electoral committee about the received complaints and changes made in the electoral rolls by the court’s decision, and the constituency electoral committee shall report to the Central Electoral Commission as soon as possible but no later than within 12 hours.
CHAPTER FIVE
NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES FOR MEMBERS OF THE SEIMAS
Article 37. Nomination of candidates for Members of the Seimas
1. Candidates for Members of the Seimas may be nominated:
1) in the multi-member and single-member constituencies by a party which is registered pursuant to the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Political Parties (hereinafter: the ‘Law on Political Parties’) not later than 185 days prior to an election, which meets the requirements laid down in the Law on Political Parties with regard to the number of party members and which does not have the legal status of the party in respect of which liquidation has been initiated or the legal status of the party placed under liquidation;
2) in a single-member constituency by every citizen of the Republic of Lithuania who qualifies to be elected as a Member of the Seimas, may declare himself to be a candidate for Member of the Seimas, provided his candidacy is supported by signatures of no less than 1 000 voters of that constituency. If a party does not nominate a list of candidates, a candidate nominated by the party must be supported in a single-member constituency by the signatures of at least 1 000 voters of that constituency. These requirements shall not apply to candidates nominated by the parties in a single-member constituency if an election is organised in that constituency to fill the vacant seat of a Member of the Seimas in accordance with the procedure laid down in point 1 of Article 97 of this Law and the party nominated the list of candidates in the last regular election to the Seimas, as well as to those citizens of the Republic of Lithuania participating in a rerun election who were registered as candidates in the said single-member constituency during the election that failed or the election that was declared invalid.
2. In the multi-member constituency a party shall nominate its candidates for Members of the Seimas by presenting a list of candidates in which candidates are recorded in the succession established by the party. Unless the statutes of a party provide otherwise, candidates in single-member constituencies and the list of candidates recorded in succession in the multi-member constituency must be approved at the congress or conference of the party. The list of candidates (joint list) must not include less than 25 and more than 141 candidates.
3. A party may nominate candidates and a citizen may declare himself to be a candidate only after they have been registered as a political campaigner under the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Funding of Political Campaigns and Control of Funding thereof (hereinafter: the ‘Law on Funding of Political Campaigns and Control of Funding thereof’).
Article 38. Application documents for nomination of candidates and forms for the collection of voter signatures
1. A party must submit to the Central Electoral Commission the following application documents:
1) an application for the participation in the election;
2) a short electoral programme in compliance with the requirements set out by the Central Electoral Commission;
3) the list of candidates nominated in the multi-member constituency;
4) the list of candidates nominated in single-member constituencies;
5) the commitment signed by each nominated candidate to terminate, if he is elected, his employment or any other activities incompatible with the status of a Member of the Seimas, the consent to be nominated by this party in a specific constituency, a questionnaire for a candidate for Member of the Seimas completed by the candidate himself, as well as the extracts containing the basic data from the income tax return and the assets declaration submitted to the State Tax Inspectorate, where such extracts are approved by that tax inspectorate to which the return and declaration have been submitted, as well as each candidate’s declaration of private interests and the pledge in the form set out by the Central Electoral Commission to comply with the prohibition to bribe voters. The party must submit photographs of each candidate and his biography in the form set out by the Central Electoral Commission;
6) an authorisation for an election representative to represent it in the Central Electoral Commission; the party shall also have the right to grant authorisation to represent it and the candidates nominated by it in the constituency electoral committees;
7) a document certifying that the party or the person nominated in a single-member constituency has paid the election deposit; also a notification specifying the account opened in a credit institution registered in the Republic of Lithuania or a branch of a credit institution which is registered in another Member State of the European Union or state of the European Economic Area that operates in the Republic of Lithuania and to which the election deposit subject to refunding will be transferred under Article 41(5) or (6) of this Law;
8) if the party nominated candidates or lists of candidates during the last election to the Seimas, election to the European Parliament or election to the municipal councils, it has the right to submit a copy of the relevant report on political campaign funding;
9) information about the funds in the account of state budget appropriations allocated to the political party and in the current bank account, which were received during the period from 1 January of the current year to the first day of the month of the submission of the documents.
2. A person who decided to declare himself to be a candidate for Member of the Seimas must submit to the constituency electoral committee the following documents:
1) an application declaring his candidacy in this constituency;
2) a commitment signed by himself to terminate, if he is elected, his employment or any other activities incompatible with the status of a Member of the Seimas, a questionnaire for a candidate for Member of the Seimas filled out himself, as well as the extracts containing the basic data from the income tax return and the assets declaration submitted to the State Tax Inspectorate, where such extracts are approved by that tax inspectorate to which the return and declaration have been submitted, as well as a declaration of private interests and a pledge in the form set out by the Central Electoral Commission to comply with the prohibition to bribe voters. The person must submit photographs of himself, a short electoral programme in compliance with the requirements set out by the Central Electoral Commission and his own biography in the form set out by the Central Electoral Commission;
3) a document certifying that the person who has declared himself to be a candidate for Member of the Seimas has paid the election deposit; also a notification specifying the account opened in a credit institution registered in the Republic of Lithuania or a branch of a credit institution which is registered in another Member State of the European Union or state of the European Economic Area that operates in the Republic of Lithuania and to which the election deposit subject to refunding will be transferred under Article 41(5) or (6) of this Law. The authorisation by a candidate for representing him in the Central Electoral Commission and the constituency electoral committee may also be submitted.
3. In the questionnaire for a candidate for Member of the Seimas, a citizen declared by himself to be a candidate or has been nominated as a candidate for Member of the Seimas must fill in the following data himself: surname, forename, number of the passport or the identity card, personal number, date of birth, home address, office/service held, membership of the political party or association, whether or not his court-imposed sentence has expire, whether or not he is in the active military service or alternative national defence service, whether or not he is an officer, non-commissioned officer or re-enlistee of the national defence system, police or the internal affairs service, who has not retired from service, as well as an officer of other military-type or security service, who is on the payroll. The questionnaire for a candidate for Member of the Seimas may also contain other questions identified by the Central Electoral Commission to which the person may not reply. A candidate for Member of the Seimas must also inform in writing the Central Electoral Commission whether or not he is or was and when a citizen of any other state (other states), and if such is the case, he must present a document confirming the citizenship of any other state (other states), and at the request of the Central Electoral Commission – a document issued by competent institutions of the Republic of Lithuania, any other state (other states), pertaining to the renunciation or the loss of the citizenship of any other state (other states), as well as a written consent of the appropriate form and content so that the Central Electoral Commission might obtain the information from the competent institutions of the Republic of Lithuania, any other state (other states) concerning the candidate’s for Member of the Seimas citizenship of any other state (other states) which he has or had, and the renunciation or the loss thereof.
4. The Central Electoral Commission shall start accepting application documents, with the exception of the completed individual forms for the collection of voter signatures, 83 days before polling day and shall end at 5p.m. 65 days before polling day. The documents submitted after the expiry of the time limit for filing the application documents may not be recognised as the application documents.
5. The application documents shall also be transmitted electronically in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission. Voters may also support a candidate who has declared himself to be a candidate for Member of the Seimas electronically with their signatures in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission. Voters may also support the self-nomination of a person as a candidate by electronic means in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission.
6. The constituency electoral committee shall, within three days, issue a citizen who has decided to declare himself to be a candidate for Member of the Seimas with individual forms for the collection of voter signatures referred to in paragraph 7 of this Article in order to collect signatures of that constituency’s voters who support his self-nomination. Candidates shall either collect voter signatures themselves or charge other voters to perform the task. A person who has collected the signatures shall put his signature at the end of the form for the collection of voter signatures and shall be responsible for the collection of signatures according to the procedure laid down in this Law. In a form for the collection of voter signatures a citizen who supports the person’s self-nomination must himself fill out the following data: surname, forename, number of the passport or the identity card, date of birth, home address, and sign it. Where a citizen who supports the candidate’s self-nomination is unable because of his disability or for other reasons to personally write down the required data in the form for the collection of voter signatures, he may request any other citizen eligible to vote, except for the person collecting the signatures, to do this for him. In this case, an entry set out by the Central Electoral Commission shall be made in the form for the collection of voter signatures. A citizen who supports the person’s self-nomination as a candidate and has no disability which would preclude him from filling out his data must himself write down the data in the form for the collection of voter signatures. It shall be prohibited to bribe voters who supported self-nomination, to give or promise to give remuneration for supporting the candidate’s self-nomination also to demand under threat that the person put his signature or in any other way violate the principle of voluntariness. The candidate must return the forms for the collection of voter signatures to the constituency electoral committee that issued them not later than 45 days before an election. Having received the forms for the collection of voter signatures, the relevant electoral committee shall verify them not later than within ten days. The electoral committee that verifies the signatures shall count the number of signatures of the constituency voters who supported the citizen’s self-nomination or the list of candidates (candidate) nominated by the party. The following signatures shall not be counted: the signatures of persons who are not eligible to vote, of voters who are not entered on the electoral roll of that constituency; of persons who failed to record all the data prescribed by this Law; if incorrect data have been recorded; all signatures of the citizen who has signed for the self-nomination of the same person several times. If it is established that the citizens’ signatures have been forged, that the principle of voluntariness or other requirements of this Law have been violated during signature collection, the constituency electoral committee shall recommend the Central Electoral Commission not to register the person as a candidate for Member of the Seimas. If it turns out, upon deducting the invalid signatures, that the number of signatures prescribed in this Law has been collected in the forms for the collection of voter signatures, the constituency electoral committee shall recommend to the Central Electoral Commission to register the person as a candidate for Member of the Seimas.
7. Voter signatures must be collected on an individual form for the collection of voter signatures containing the following text:
‘I, voter, confirm my support for the person (person‘s forename, surname, number of the single-member constituency) who has declared himself to be a candidate at an election to the Seimas (election date):
| Serial No |
Voter’s surname, forename |
Number of the voter’s identity card, passport |
Date of birth |
Home address |
Signature and Date’ |
Article 39. Registration of candidate for Member of the Seimas
1. While checking the application documents completed by a candidate for Member of the Seimas, the Central Electoral Commission shall determine whether or not the candidate meets the requirements of Article 2 of this Law. When necessary, it may refer for assistance to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania, the Ministry of Justice or other competent state institutions of the Republic of Lithuania and foreign states to furnish the data important for registering the candidate. Such request of the Central Electoral Commission must be considered as a matter of great urgency and a written reply must be given within five days, but not later than 32 days before an election.
2. Having checked out and established that all application documents specified in this Law are submitted, that such documents meet the requirements of this Law, that a party which has nominated a candidate or a person declared by himself to be a candidate or a candidate nominated by a party in a single-member constituency has been registered as an independent political campaigner, that the number of voters who have signed for the candidate or the list of candidates corresponds to the number determined by this Law, the Central Electoral Commission must take a decision concerning the registration of the candidate (the list of candidates) not less than 31 days before an election.
3. If not all application documents, specified in this Law, have been submitted or there are any faults in them, the Central Electoral Commission must immediately inform an appropriate election representative about such fact.
4. If following the registration of a candidate for Member of the Seimas, the Central Electoral Commission establishes that the candidate does not meet the requirements laid down in Article 2 of this Law, or if the candidate refuses to give a written consent referred to in Article 38(3) of this Law or to submit a pledge to adhere to the prohibition to bribe voters as indicated in Article 38(1)(5) and Article 38(2)(2) of this Law, or he submits the inaccurate consent or pledge, or fails to submit it within the time limit set out by the Central Electoral Commission, or if the candidate has failed to meet the requirements set out in Article 98(3) of this Law (has not provided the information specified in this Law or has provided the erroneous information), or if the political party, the candidate has grossly violated Article 51(1) of this Law, or if the party which has nominated the candidate or the candidate himself has lost the status of an independent political campaigner, the Central Electoral Commission shall cancel the registration of such candidate for Member of the Seimas or revoke the announcement of the joint list of candidates of the appropriate political party or coalition of the parties. The Central Electoral Commission may take a decision not later than 12 days before an election or after the election as provided for in Article 91(1) of this Law.
Version of Article 391 valid as of 1 January 2022:
Article 391. Publication of information on candidates
1. According to the application documents as well as other documents submitted by parties, candidates and their election representatives, the following information on a candidate is published on the website of the Central Electoral Commission for an indefinite period:
1) information on the candidate for Member of the Seimas: forename, surname, date of birth, employment, office/service held, membership of a political party and association; the particulars referred to in Articles 2(2) and 38(3) of this Law: whether or not the candidate has taken the pledge of allegiance or the oath of allegiance to a foreign state, details of such pledge or oath; whether or not he is, or was, or has been a national of another state/other states; whether or not his court-imposed sentence has expired; the data referred to in Article 98(1) and (3) of this Law on collaboration with the special services of the former USSR or on whether the candidate, under a judgment of a court, was found guilty of committing a criminal act;
2) candidate’s biography;
3) extracts containing the basic data from the income tax return and the assets declaration submitted to the State Tax Inspectorate and approved by a tax inspectorate to which the said documents were submitted;
4) candidate’s declaration of private interests;
5) whether the candidate participates in public activities;
6) any other information indicated by the candidate that he would like to publish.
2. Information on the candidate’s place of birth, nationality, education, knowledge of foreign languages, hobbies, marital status, forename/surname of the spouse, forenames/surnames of the children, telephone number, e-mail address shall be published on the website of the Central Electoral Commission until the end of political campaign.
3. Data on the candidates, namely, a candidate’s forename, surname, the party that has nominated him or whether he has declared himself to be a candidate, as well as the election results (votes received; preference votes received; pre-election number on the list of candidates; post-election number on the list of candidates; mandates received; constituency) shall be published on the website of the Central Electoral Commission for an indefinite period.
4. The candidate’s personal number, passport or identity card number, home address shall not be made public.
Article 40. Election representative
1. A party, a citizen who has declared himself to be a candidate for Member of the Seimas and has been registered as a candidate for Member of the Seimas shall authorise an election representative to represent them on all issues in the Central Electoral Commission or a constituency electoral committee. In meetings of the electoral committee, he shall have the right of deliberative vote and the right to express a separate opinion on all issues under consideration. The election representative shall have all the rights of an election observer in the territory of the constituency in the electoral committee whereof he is authorised to represent. Upon the announcement of the date of an election to the Seimas, authorisation by the parties to represent them in electoral committees may be filed with the Central Electoral Commission the following day after the formation of an appropriate electoral committee. If the candidature of an election representative meets the requirements of this Law, the Central Electoral Commission shall, not later than within three days, register the authorisation granted to him and issue a certificate of the election representative. The powers of an election representative shall expire on the 20th day after the proclamation of the final results of the election. The powers of an election representative in an appropriate electoral committee shall also expire on the 20th day after the presentation of the application documents, provided that the party, political organisation does not have a candidate (candidates) in the territory of that constituency.
2. Until polling day, a party, a citizen who has declared himself to be a candidate may revoke an authorisation at any time and authorise any other person to be an election representative. In this case, the said election representative must be registered, a certificate must be issued to him, and the registration of the previous election representative must be cancelled within three days.
Version of paragraph 3 valid as of 1 January 2022:
3. The Central Electoral Commission shall publish the data on an election representative (his forename, surname, who has proposed the election representative, name and number of the constituency) on its website for the period of political campaign.
Article 41. Election deposit
1. The election deposit for one candidate for Member of the Seimas to be registered in a single-member constituency shall be equal to one most recently published average monthly earnings in the whole economy (hereinafter: ‘AMEs’). In order to register one new candidate in a single-member constituency instead of the candidate whose application documents have been revoked or who has revoked the documents himself the required deposit shall be in the amount of one AMEs.
2. The election deposit for one list of candidates for Members of the Seimas to be registered in a multi-member constituency shall be in the amount of 10 AMEs. A change of the place of one candidate on the list or entry of a new candidate on the list shall be in the amount of one AMEs. Joining the lists of candidates shall be in the amount of 0.3 AMWs for each joint list.
3. Election deposits for registration of a list of candidates shall be doubled for the party which at the last election to the Seimas, election to the municipal councils or election to the European Parliament nominated candidates or the list (lists) of candidates and did not submit a copy of the report on respective political campaign funding in compliance with the Law on Funding of Political Campaigns and Control of Funding thereof and the sets of the previous calendar year’s financial statements of the political party in compliance with the Law on Political Parties.
4. In the event of late submission of the application documents, failure to collect the required number of voter signatures as established in this Law, revocation of the announcement of a joint list of candidates of a political party or the coalition of the parties, cancellation of the registration of a candidate or non-registration of a candidate for Member of the Seimas on the grounds specified in Article 39(6) of this Law, the election deposit shall not be refunded.
5. After the end of political campaign, the Central Electoral Commission shall, within 40 days, refund the election deposit to a party or a person who has furnished it, if:
1) the political campaigner submitted, within the time limits laid down in the Law on Funding of Political Campaigns and Control of Funding thereof, a report on political campaign funding, its annexes and the documents justifying the costs and revenues;
2) the candidates have not violated Article 51 of this Law or have not grossly violated the Law on Funding of Political Campaigns and Control of Funding thereof;
3) the list of candidates (candidate) got at the election not less than three per cent of votes of the voters who participated in the election held in an appropriate constituency.
6. If a political campaigner submits to the Central Electoral Committee the report on political campaign funding, the annexes as well as the documents justifying the costs and revenues not later than within 10 days after the proclamation of the final results of the election and if the conditions set out in points 2 and 3 of paragraph 5 of this Article are present, the Central Electoral Commission shall, not later than within 60 days after the proclamation of the final results of the election, refund the election deposit to the party or the person who has furnished it.
7. The non-refundable deposits shall be transferred to the state budget.
Article 42. Prohibition for one person to be a candidate in several constituencies or on several lists of candidates
1. Each candidate for Member of the Seimas may be entered in a list of candidates nominated by only one party in the multi-member constituency.
2. A person who is entered on a list of candidates in the multi-member constituency shall have the right to be concurrently nominated as a candidate for Member of the Seimas also in one single-member constituency.
3. If a person has given his consent to be entered on the list of candidates nominated by more than one party in the multi-member constituency, or if he has given his consent to be nominated (or has declared himself to be a candidate) in more than one single-member constituency, he shall be removed from all the lists of candidates in the multi-member constituency and of all single-member constituencies.
Article 43. Joining of lists of candidates
1. With not less than 35 days left before an election, several parties may join the lists of their candidates. In order to do so, they must submit a statement to the Central Electoral Commission concerning the joining of the lists of candidates, indicating the name of the coalition. The joint list in which the candidates are entered in a newly established succession, as well as the document confirming that the election deposit for the joining of the lists of candidates has been furnished shall be submitted as well. Only those persons who are on the lists being joined may be entered on the joint list. The name of the coalition must include the word ‘coalition’ and may not contain any references to the names of the parties that do not form this coalition. The joint list shall be considered to be a single list. The same party may not participate in more than one coalition.
2. The list of party candidates shall be considered to be a joint list if it contains two or more candidates belonging to another party or to other parties.
Article 44. Right to withdraw or supplement electoral application documents
1. A party or an election coalition as well as a person who has been nominated as a candidate for Member of the Seimas or who has declared himself to be a candidate for Seimas member in a single-member constituency or in the list of a political organisation, may at any time, but not later than 35 days before an election, declare the application documents fully or partially withdrawn. A party or an election coalition shall notify the Central Electoral Commission thereof by a statement, a citizen - by a notarised statement and the relevant election representatives in the Central Electoral Commission shall be notified thereof. If the application documents are withdrawn, the election deposit may be refunded only after the election, provided it becomes refundable as stipulated in Article 41 of this Law. It shall be allowed to additionally submit, before the deadline for filing application documents prescribed by Article 38(4) of this Law, new application documents if the sequence of candidates on a list of candidates is changed or new candidates are nominated in single-member constituencies.
2. If the application documents are withdrawn by a party that is in the coalition, the candidates nominated by it shall be removed from the joint list of candidates, and, if the name of the coalition contains a reference to its name, the name of the coalition shall be changed. In this event, it shall be necessary to notify in writing the election representatives of the coalition partners in the Central Electoral Commission. If, upon withdrawal of the electoral application documents, the candidates of only one party remain on the coalition’s list of candidates, they shall participate in an election only as the nominees of that party.
3. If, upon withdrawal of the application documents or cancellation of the candidates’ registration, there are less than 20 candidates left on the list of candidates (joint list), the registration of all the candidates of this list shall be cancelled.
Version of Article 45 valid until 31 December 2021:
Article 45. Announcement of candidates and lists of candidates
With not less than 30 days prior to an election, the Central Electoral Commission shall publish on its website the lists of candidates of the parties and coalitions participating in the election, election numbers assigned to the lists of candidates by drawing lots, election numbers assigned to the candidates on the said lists as well as the candidates nominated in single-member constituencies. The Central Electoral Commission shall hand over to an election representative the certificates of candidates for Members of the Seimas with the election numbers of the candidates written therein. At the moment of its assignment, a candidate’s election number shall coincide with the candidate’s successive number on the list/joint list of nominated candidates. The election number assigned to the candidate may not be changed up to the proclamation of the election results.
Version of Article 45 valid as of 1 January 2022:
Article 45. Announcement of candidates and lists of candidates
With not less than 30 days prior to an election, the Central Electoral Commission shall publish on its website the lists of candidates of the parties and coalitions participating in the election as well as the data on the candidates entered thereon (candidate’s forename, surname, the party that nominated him), election numbers assigned to the lists of candidates by drawing lots, election numbers assigned to the candidates on the said lists as well as the data on the candidates who have nominated themselves or have been nominated in single-member constituencies (candidate’s forename, surname, the party that nominated him or the fact that he has nominated himself). The Central Electoral Commission shall hand over to an election representative the certificates of candidates for Members of the Seimas with the election numbers of the candidates written therein. At the moment of its assignment, a candidate’s election number shall coincide with the candidate’s successive number on the list/joint list of nominated candidates. The election number assigned to the candidate may not be changed up to the proclamation of the election results. The information specified in this Article shall be kept on the website of the Central Electoral Commission for an indefinite period from its publication thereon.
CHAPTER SIX
GUARANTEES OF ACTIVITIES OF
CANDIDATES FOR MEMBERS OF THE SEIMAS
Article 46. Right of a candidate for Member of the Seimas to speak at meetings and to use the media
1. After the Central Electoral Commission announces the names of candidates and lists of candidates, the candidates for Members of the Seimas in the constituencies shall have the equal rights to speak at voters' meetings or any other meetings, gatherings, conferences as well as through the state media, and to announce their respective election programmes.
2. Heads of state and municipal institutions and agencies, as well as mayors of municipalities or persons authorised by them must help candidates for Seimas member to organise meetings with voters, to obtain necessary information, with the exception of the information which is considered confidential according to laws of the Republic of Lithuania and resolutions of the Government.
Article 47. Liability for violation of this Law
Persons, who by violence, threat, deception, bribery or otherwise, prevent voters from implementing the right to vote or to be elected to the Seimas, to organise and carry out election campaign, who have violated the procedure of election campaign, announced or otherwise disseminated fraudulent data about a candidate for Member of the Seimas or prevented the candidate from meeting with voters, or who have otherwise violated this Law, as well as the members of the electoral committees or other officers who have falsified, damaged, destroyed, stolen or hidden election documents, counted the votes incorrectly, breached the secrecy of the ballot or otherwise violated this Law, shall be held liable under laws of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 48. Right of a candidate for Member of the Seimas to be released from work or his official duties
1. After the Central Electoral Commission announces the names of candidates and lists of candidates, a candidate shall, at his written request, be released from work or official duties for a period not exceeding 30 days. A request to be released from work or the official duties shall be submitted to the person who has the right to grant leave.
2. The provision of paragraph 1 of this Article shall not apply to candidates for Members of the Seimas who performs the duties of the Member of the Seimas or the President of the Republic. The procedure for releasing a candidate for Member of the Seimas, who is a member of the Government, from the official duties shall be laid down in the Law on the Government.
Article 49. Immunity of a Candidate for Member of the Seimas
1. After the Central Electoral Commission announces the names of candidates and lists of candidates, as well as until the first sitting of a newly elected Seimas (after the rerun election or by-election -— until the oath of a Member of the Seimas), a candidate for Member of the Seimas may not be held criminally liable, arrested, his freedom may not be restricted in any other way without the consent of the Central Electoral Commission.
2. The provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article shall not apply to candidates for Members of the Seimas who perform the duties of the Member of the Seimas, the member of the Government or the judge. The matter of the immunity of the above-mentioned persons shall be resolved in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Constitution and laws.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ELECTION CAMPAIGNING
Article 50. Basic principles of election campaigning
1. The provisions of this Law regulating election campaigning shall apply after the announcement of the date of an election. Election campaigning expenses and political advertising expenses must be declared in accordance with the procedure laid down by law and must not exceed the maximum permissible amount of political campaign expenses fixed by law.
2. Election campaigning may be conducted in any form or manner, provided it does not violate the Constitution and laws, conflict with the morals, justice or societal cohesion, contravene fair and respectable elections.
3. Requirements for marking political advertising shall be laid down by law; the procedure for marking political advertising shall be laid down by the Central Electoral Commission.
Article 51. Conditions and procedure for election campaigning
1. After the Central Electoral Commission announces the names of candidates and lists of candidates, the candidates shall be granted the right to use the Lithuanian national radio and television as well as the web portal thereof free of charge. The rules for producing broadcasts intended for election campaigning on radio ant the web portal shall be approved and the actual duration and time of the broadcasts shall be determined by the Central Electoral Commission after consultation with the head of the Lithuanian National Radio and Television. The Central Electoral Commission shall also distribute the time of the broadcasts in such a manner that the following principles of equality are preserved: among the lists of candidates in the multi-member constituency; among single-member constituencies; among candidates in a single-member constituency. The Lithuanian National Radio and Television shall produce and transmit broadcasts intended for election campaigning from the funds allocated in the state budget. The Central Electoral Commission shall cover additional expenses related to the production of these broadcasts.
2. Debates of candidates on radio and on television shall be financed with funds of the state budget from the appropriations allocated for the Central Electoral Commission.
3. The Central Electoral Commission shall:
1) in accordance with the procedure laid down by law, choose producers and broadcasters of debate programmes;
2) approve rules for arranging debates.
4. Groups of independent political campaigners taking part in debates (consisting of two and more persons) shall be set up by mutual agreement or, in the event of a failure to reach mutual agreement, by drawing lots.
5. All broadcasters shall have the right to prepare, on their own initiative, debate broadcasts in compliance with the provisions of the Law on Funding of Political Campaigns and Control of Funding thereof. Other terms and conditions provided for in this Article shall not apply to the said broadcasters.
6. The election programmes of the candidates to be voted for in a single-member constituency, the lists of candidates and their election programmes shall be published by the Central Electoral Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down by it.
7. Repealed as of 1 February 2020.
8. For the purpose of this Law, outdoor political advertising shall mean political advertising communicated to the public through audio or visual media. Political advertising announced in public areas, buildings, vehicles shall also be regarded as outdoor political advertising.
9. It shall be prohibited to install and disseminate outdoor political advertising:
1) on the buildings occupied by state administration, law-enforcement and other state and municipal institutions and agencies;
2) inside or outside the public transport vehicles used by the enterprises managed by the State or municipalities, with the exception of cases where advertising areas or video broadcast equipment belong or have been transferred for use to third persons who may not be directly or indirectly influenced by the enterprises managed by the State or municipalities;
3) on motorways and their sanitary protection areas, as well as in streets and along the side thereof, if it might block technical traffic regulation means and road signs, decrease visibility thereof, blind traffic participants, detract attention thereof, thus increasing the danger to traffic participants, and also it is prohibited to use advertising that imitates road signs;
4) on sculptures and monuments;
5) within 50 metres around the building which houses a polling station;
6) without permission of the owner of the land, construction works or other structures on or in which it is installed;
7) repealed as of 28 November 2015;
10. Outdoor political advertising in protected areas and immovable cultural properties, as well as within their territories shall be permitted only upon agreement with a state body responsible for the protection of the cultural properties and a body authorised by the founder of the protected area.
11. The obligation to remove outdoor political advertising shall remain with a person who has publicised the outdoor political advertising.
12. Persons who have violated the requirements of the procedure for installing and disseminating outdoor political advertising shall be held liable under law.
13. All disputes concerning election campaigning shall be settled by the Central Electoral Commission in compliance with this Law.
Article 52. Releasing the material compromising a candidate for Member of the Seimas and the candidate’s countering opinion
1. If, after the Central Electoral Committee announces the names of candidates and lists of candidates, the media release the material compromising a candidate for Member of the Seimas (such data may be released not later than: in a means of the media which is issued more frequently than three times a week - five days before an election, in other means of the media - 10 days before an election, but in any case the material compromising a candidate may be released not later than in the last but one issue of a means of the media before an election), it must provide the candidate with a possibility to express a countering opinion which consists of a short exposition of the released compromising material and the candidate’s answer. In general, the extent of a countering opinion may not exceed the volume of the compromising material more than three times. The means of the media must publicise the candidate’s countering opinion not later than within seven days after it has been expressed, but not later than two days before the beginning of the prohibition of election campaigning. If the means of the media itself cannot publicise the candidate’s countering opinion during the time limit set by the Law, it must, with its own funds, make public the candidate’s countering opinion in another means of the media.
2. The material which is aimed at influencing voters not to vote for an individual candidate and which contains information negatively describing the candidate shall be considered as material compromising the candidate. An opinion about a candidate made public in the media (unlike hard news, the criteria of truth shall not apply to an opinion), including a negative opinion, shall not be considered as compromising material and shall not entitle the candidate to demand making a countering opinion public. The request of a candidate to publish his countering opinion may also be refused in cases where: the released material does not concern him personally; the released material about him is not compromising; the compromising material about the candidate is released by him personally or by another candidate who is nominated on the same list of candidates or nominated by the same party; the released material contains no information describing the candidate; the candidate has already exercised the right to a countering opinion.
3. If a candidate submitted a countering opinion to the means of the media in due time, but it has not been made public, the candidate’s countering opinion shall, by the decision of the Central Electoral Commission, be broadcast on the Lithuanian National Radio or Television and shall be paid for at the rates of advertising fees. In this event, the means of the media must pay the Central Electoral Commission two times the amount of the broadcast costs.
4. If the compromising material about a candidate was released during the period of time when its release is not permitted under this Law, the candidate’s countering opinion shall, by the decision of the Central Electoral Commission, be broadcast on the Lithuanian National Radio or Television and shall be paid for at the rates of advertising fees. In this event, the means of the media must pay the Central Electoral Commission three times the amount of the broadcast costs.
5. In all cases, a countering opinion shall not be made public during the period when election campaigning is prohibited. Making the countering opinion public shall not exempt the means of the media from liability under laws of the Republic of Lithuania.
6. When the candidate’s countering opinion is made public by the decision of the Central Electoral Commission, the costs thereof set by this Law shall be recovered without suit from that means of the media which has released the material compromising the candidate during the period of time when such release is not permitted or which has not made public the candidate’s countering opinion.
Article 53. Releasing the material compromising a candidate or a party which has nominated a list of candidates, and the countering opinion
1. If, after the Central Electoral Commission announces the names of candidates and lists of candidates, the means of the media makes public any material compromising a party which has nominated the list of candidates (at the latest, such data may be made public five days before an election in a means of the media which is issued more than three times a week, or 10 days before an election in other means of the media, but in all cases any material compromising a party which has nominated the list of candidates may be made public not later than in the last but one issue of a means of the media before an election), it must provide the party with a possibility of expressing a countering opinion. A countering opinion shall consist of a short exposition of the released compromising material and the response. In general, the extent of a countering opinion may not exceed the volume of the compromising material by more than three times. The means of the media must make the countering opinion public within seven days after it has been expressed, but not later than two days before the beginning of the prohibition of election campaigning. If the means of the media itself cannot make the countering opinion public during the time limit set by this Law, it must make arrangements to make the countering opinion public with its own funds in another means of the media.
2. The material which is aimed at influencing voters not to vote for the candidates nominated by a specific party and which contains information negatively describing the party (its branch or division) shall be considered as material compromising the party. An opinion about a party made public by the means of the media (unlike hard news, the criteria of truth shall not apply to an opinion), including a negative opinion, shall not be considered as compromising material and shall not grant the party the right to demand announcement of a countering opinion. The request to make public a countering opinion may also be refused in cases where: the released material does not concern the party; the released material is not compromising; the compromising material about the party is released by a candidate nominated by the party; the material contains no information describing the party; the party has already exercised the right to a countering opinion.
3. A party shall give its countering opinion to the means of the media through its election representative at the Central Electoral Commission or through its election representative at the constituency electoral committee. If the election representative has duly furnished the countering opinion to the means of the media, but it has not been made public, the countering opinion shall, by a decision of the Central Electoral Commission, be broadcast on the Lithuanian National Radio or Television and shall be paid for at the rates of advertising fees. In this event, the means of the media must pay the Central Electoral Commission two times the amount of the broadcast costs.
4. If the compromising material was released during the period when its release is not permitted under this Law, a countering opinion shall, by a decision of the Central Electoral Commission, be broadcast on the Lithuanian National Radio or Television and shall be paid for at the rates of advertising fees. In this event, the means of the media must pay the Central Electoral Commission three times the amount of the broadcast costs.
5. In all cases, a countering opinion shall not be made public during the period when election campaigning is prohibited. Making the countering opinion public shall not exempt the means of the media from liability under laws of the Republic of Lithuania.
6. When a countering opinion is released by the decision of the Central Electoral Commission, the costs thereof set by this Law shall be recovered without suit from that means of the media which has released the compromising material during the period when such release is not permitted or has not made public the candidate’s countering opinion.
Article 54. Prohibition to take advantage of one’s official position for election campaigning
1. Anyone shall be prohibited from taking advantage of his official position in state or municipal institutions, agencies or organisations, as well as in the state or municipal media for any form of election campaigning or from instructing other persons to do so, or from trying to exert influence upon the will of voters in any other manner, by taking advantage of his official position. State or municipal officials, civil servants shall be prohibited from taking advantage of their official position in order to provide exclusive conditions for election campaigning for themselves or for the party. An administrative or criminal action may, in accordance with the procedure established by law, be brought against a person who has violated this Article.
2. If a person is a candidate for Seimas member, he can use the state media only according to the procedure set out in Article 51 of this Law. If the fulfilment of his duties requires announcing to the media important news, the candidate may do it only at a press conference. It shall be allowed to broadcast in the state media or programmes of the media financed with the state or municipal funds only that recording of the conference or a portion thereof which contains no elements of election campaign.
Article 55. Funding of political campaigning of an election to the Seimas
Funding of political campaigning of an election to the Seimas shall be regulated by the Law on Funding of Political Campaigns and Control of Funding thereof.
Article 56. Prohibition of election campaigning on polling day
1. Election campaigning, regardless of its methods, forms and measures, shall be prohibited during 30 hours before the beginning of an election and on polling day until the close of the poll, with the exception of outdoor political advertising set up before the beginning of this election campaigning prohibition. During the period of the election campaigning prohibition and the period of early voting, no visual election campaign measures (with the exception of those produced by the Central Electoral Commission) may be present at a polling station and within 50 meters of the building in which the polling station is situated. If election campaigning for an election of the President of the Republic, or an election to the European Parliament, or an election to municipal councils, or campaigning regarding a referendum are conducted concurrently with an election to the Seimas, the campaigning shall be prohibited during 30 hours before the beginning of the election and on polling day until the close of the poll, under the same conditions and in accordance with the same procedure as specified in this paragraph.
2. Information about the course of an election, its importance for the life of the country, the number of voters who have come to vote, the documents required for voting, invitation to come to vote or any other information which does not instigate non-participation in an election, voting for or against a candidate or a list of candidates, shall not be regarded as election campaigning.
3. Persons who violate the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article shall be punishable under law.
CHAPTER EIGHT
PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES RELATED TO ORGANISATION OF AN ELECTION
Article 57. Establishment of sample election documents
The Central Electoral Commission shall establish specimens and forms of election notices, ballot papers, posters of a candidate in a single-member constituency and lists of candidates in the multi-member constituency with the data about a candidate (candidates), ballot paper envelopes and covering envelopes, other documents, blanks, questionnaires, official envelopes, packets, marks used in an election, as well as, where necessary, the specimens for filling them out.
Article 58. Ballot papers
1. For voting in an election to the Seimas each voter shall be issued with two ballot papers: one for voting for a candidate in a concrete single-member constituency and the other for voting for a list of candidates in the multi-member constituency. Instructions to a voter regarding the procedure for filling in a ballot paper must be printed on the ballot-paper which must also contain a special space designated for indicating the voter’s will.
2. The names of all candidates for Members of the Seimas shall be placed on the ballot paper of single-member constituencies in alphabetic order on the same space and in the same type (types). Such ballot papers shall indicate the forename and surname of each of the candidates for Members of the Seimas, as well as the name of the party that has nominated him or it shall indicate ‘Declared himself to be a candidate’.
3. A ballot paper of the multi-member constituency shall contain all the lists of candidates arranged according to the assigned election numbers in an increasing order on the same space and in the same type (types). The type shall be chosen of such size which would best fit to fill the space designated for inscription. A ballot paper shall contain the name of the party, coalition (indicated in its application documents). The forename and surname of the head of the party shall be written down in brackets under the name of the party, and the names of the parties comprising the coalition shall be written down in brackets under the name of the coalition. At the party’s request, a black-and-white image of the emblem (sign) of this party, registered in the manner prescribed by law, may be placed by the name of the party. In such case, a sample of this emblem (sign) shall be submitted to the Central Electoral Commission together with the application documents. All the lists of the parties, coalitions (candidates’ forenames and surnames) shall be distributed to voters in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission and presented in each polling booth.
4. The second part of a ballot paper of the multi-member constituency shall contain five designated spaces where when voting a voter writes down the election numbers of the chosen candidates.
5. Aboard the ship ballot papers shall be printed in accordance with the description transmitted in a radiogram by the Central Electoral Commission. Aboard the ship, the surnames of the candidates shall not be indicated on the ballot paper of the multi-member constituency and the place for expressing the voter’s opinion of the candidates shall not be designated.
Article 59. Delivery of ballot papers
1. Constituency electoral committees shall deliver to polling districts the ballot papers, voting envelopes and special labels at least 12 hours before the commencement of the poll or the voting in special polling place and at home.
2. In the diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania, voters must be provided with free access to ballot papers and voting envelopes at least 20 days before an election. Aboard the ships, voters must be provided with free access to the text of ballot papers not less than 15 days prior to an election.
3. The Central Electoral Commission shall be responsible for the production of ballot papers, voting envelopes (and special labels) as well as for the keeping of records and delivery thereof without violating the fixed dates.
Article 60. Preparation of polling stations
1. A polling station of a polling district must be fully prepared for an election not later than 12 hours before the commencement of the poll. By this time, all the ballot papers received from a constituency electoral committee must have been counted by an electoral committee that must have drawn up a take-over record. In the polling station of the polling district, there must be a ballot box, a secret voting booth/booths in which voters could fill in ballot papers in private. Election campaign or voter information material produced by the Central Electoral Commission may be displayed in a polling station and the following material must be displayed there: lists of candidates eligible in the multi-member constituency; election posters of candidates eligible in a single-member constituency. The text of this Law must be accessible in each polling district. The election campaigning material, except the material produced by the Central Electoral Commission, must be removed from the polling station, passageways leading to or out of it (corridors) and within 50 metres of the building housing the polling station. Working places for electoral committee members and for election observers must also be prepared. The prepared polling station shall be closed, sealed and the chairman of the polling district electoral committee shall inform about this the constituency electoral committee and the police.
2. Other requirements for the setting-up of polling stations shall be established by the Central Electoral Commission.
3. The chairman of a polling district electoral committee shall be responsible for the timely and proper preparation of a polling station. If the municipality administration fails to allocate premises suitable for setting up a polling station or fails to ensure the provision of equipment necessary for voting, the chairman of the polling district electoral committee must forthwith notify the constituency electoral committee thereof and take measure to find premises suitable for setting up a polling station and to acquire the necessary equipment as prescribed in Article 8 of this Law.
Article 61. Election observers
1. Voters and persons nominated by entities representing foreign states or international organisations may be election observers. The mayor, the director of the administration, their deputies, wardens and their deputies of the municipality whose territory falls within the constituency in which an observer is entitled to observe an election, as well as the persons whose status is incompatible with the status of an election observer in accordance with Article 11(3) of this Law may not be election observers in the constituency.
2. The following may nominate election observers:
1) political parties, candidates who have nominated themselves for Member of the Seimas;
2) non-governmental organisations registered in the Republic of Lithuania whose activities involve elections or the protection of human rights;
3) international organisations whose activities involve elections or the protection of human rights;
4) persons representing foreign states;
5) the Central Electoral Commission on the basis of submitted requests.
3. Political parties, candidates for Members of the Seimas, non-governmental organisations shall have the right to propose registration as election observers of up to two election observers in each polling district. Requests for the registration of election observers must be submitted before the date of early voting, unless it is necessary to replace a person who is unable to be an election observer for objective reasons.
4. The following shall register election observers and issue certificates thereto:
1) the Central Electoral Commission – to observe an election within the entire territory of the Republic of Lithuania and in the diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania, in additional polling places abroad at a diplomatic missions or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania, in constituencies and polling districts;
2) a constituency electoral committee - to observe an election within the entire territory of the constituency or in the concrete polling districts of that constituency.
Version of paragraph 5 valid until 31 December 2021:
5. Election observers shall be registered in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission ensuring compliance with the principle of equality between election observers nominated by political parties, candidates and non-governmental organisations.
Version of paragraph 5 valid as of 1 January 2022:
5. Election observers shall be registered in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission ensuring compliance with the principle of equality of election observers nominated by political parties, candidates and non-governmental organisations. The Central Electoral Commission shall publish the data on election representatives (their forenames, surnames, entities who have proposed the election representatives, names and numbers of the constituencies and polling districts) on its website for the period of political campaign.
6. Electoral committees may refuse registering an election observer if he does not meet the requirements of this Law or his activities do not comply with the Constitution or laws, or they may cancel the registration of the election observer if he violates the Constitution or laws or does not comply with decisions of the Central Electoral Commission. The registration of the election observer may be cancelled by the chairman of the electoral committee that has registered him or by the chairman of a higher electoral committee. A person who has nominated the election observer shall be informed about the refusal to issue the election observer’s certificate or about the cancellation of the registration of the election observer.
7. Election observers must be provided with adequate conditions in polling stations of polling districts to observe the organisation and conduct of voting, counting of votes and drawing-up of documents specified in this Law.
8. Election observers shall have the right to monitor the organisation and conduct of voting, be present in an electoral committee’s counting of votes and filling out of the documents specified in this Law. Having established that the members of the electoral committee, voters or other persons have allegedly violated this Law, an election observer shall be entitled to apply to the chairman or the members of the relevant polling district electoral committee for the elimination of such violations.
9. Election observers shall not have the right to exert influence over the work of electoral committees and individual members of these committees and to disturb in this way their activities and election process, to carry out election campaigning. Preparedness of an election observer to carry out the election observer’s activities shall be the responsibility of an entity who has nominated him.
CHAPTER NINE
VOTING
Article 62. Time and venue of voting
Voting shall take place on polling day from 7a.m. until 8p.m. at the place designated by a polling district electoral committee. A voter shall vote in the polling district on the electoral roll of which his name has been entered, unless this Law provides otherwise.
Article 63. Prohibition to hold other events in a polling station
It shall not be allowed to hold any other events in a polling station, except the organisation of an election and voting. It shall also not be allowed to hold any events in the passageways/corridors leading to or out of the polling station and at the entrance to the building where the polling station is situated.
Article 64. Commencement of poll
On polling day, a polling station shall be opened only when at least three-fifths of the members of a polling district electoral committee have gathered. Until the polling station is opened for voters, only the electoral committee members, electoral observers and the police officer on duty shall be allowed to be inside the polling station. The chairman of the electoral committee, together with the members of the electoral committee, shall ascertain that the ballot box is empty and seal it. After the polling district electoral committee checks that the polling station has been furnished according to the established requirements, the chairman of the polling district electoral committee shall register the total amount of the ballot papers received by the polling district electoral committee from the constituency electoral committee into the vote counting record, stamp the ballot papers, distribute the ballot papers and the electoral roll to the members of the electoral committee, enter the number of the ballot papers issued to each member of the electoral committee into the vote counting record of the polling district, and open the polling station to the voters, thereby proclaiming the beginning of the election.
Article 65. Voter identification
1. At the entrance to the polling station, a voter shall present his passport or any other document certifying his identity to an electoral committee member of the polling district. In the polling districts which are connected electronically to an electronic electoral roll, a voter’s arrival to vote shall be marked in the electronic electoral roll. Having established that the voter has arrived at the polling district on whose electoral roll his name has been entered, a committee member shall hand to the voter an arrival card bearing the seal of the polling district and indicating the voter’s number in order of arrival and the committee member to be referred to for the issue of a ballot paper. It shall be prohibited to issue several arrival cards to one voter or to issue to him another voter’s arrival card. If, upon arriving at the polling station, the person is not in possession of the required documents or it is not clear whether he has been entered on the electoral roll of this polling district, the committee member shall not issue an arrival card to this person, instead, the person shall be issued a guest’s card and shall be referred to the committee chairman or deputy chairman to clarify his voting status.
2. A committee member who is instructed to hand out ballot papers, having established, on the basis of the produced documents that a person who has arrived to vote is indeed the citizen who has been entered on the electoral roll, or provided that two citizens of the Republic of Lithuania entered on the electoral roll of that polling district witness to this fact in writing to the chairman of the electoral committee, shall find the surname of the voter on the electoral roll and shall accept the arrival card from the person. After the voter and the committee member who hands ballot papers sign in the electoral roll of the polling district, the voter shall be issued with the ballot papers - one for a single-member constituency and the other for the multi-member constituency. The arrival card shall not be returned to the voter.
3. It shall be prohibited to issue a voter with the ballot paper/ballot papers intended for another person, with the exception of the case specified in Article 66(5) of this Law. The member of an electoral committee who violates this provision shall be held liable under laws of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 66. Voting procedure
1. Having been issued with ballot papers, a voter shall go into the polling booth and fill in the ballot papers. It shall be prohibited to mark ballot papers outside the polling booth.
2. On a ballot paper of a single-member constituency, a voter shall mark the name of the candidate for Member of Seimas whom he is voting for.
3. On a ballot paper of the multi-member constituency a voter shall mark the list of candidates whom he is voting for and, expressing his opinion about the candidates on the list, shall enter the election numbers of the five chosen candidates in the designated spaces of the ballot paper. In this way, preference votes are given for the candidates. If the election number of one and the same candidate is entered two or more times on the ballot paper, only one preference vote from the ballot paper shall be considered for the candidate. Where the marks on the ballot paper make it impossible to determine the voter’s preferences regarding the election numbers of one or more candidates, it shall be considered that the voter has not expressed his preferences regarding the candidates.
4. A voter shall personally place the ballot papers filled in by him into the ballot box.
5. At the request of a voter, a spoilt ballot paper shall be replaced with the new one. The spoilt ballot paper shall be crossed through and signed by a member of the electoral committee who shall then hand a replacement ballot paper. The spoilt ballot papers shall be accounted for and kept separate.
6. If a voter cannot carry out the actions specified in this Article himself because of his disability, at his request, his ballot paper shall be filled in by a person chosen by him. This person must fill in the ballot paper in the voter’s presence under his instructions, maintain the secrecy of the ballot and place the ballot paper in a ballot box in the voter’s presence. The committee members, election observers and election representatives shall be prohibited from carrying out any voting-related actions for a voter with disabilities.
Article 67. Voting at special polling places
1. Voting at special polling places shall be made possible for voters who due to their health condition or age are in healthcare institutions (except outpatient institutions), social care or guardianship institutions or are performing compulsory military service and, therefore, are unable to arrive at a polling district to vote, or are performing active military service, civil service or working under employment contracts in international military operations abroad, or are serving an arrest or custodial sentence or are in arrest houses or remand prisons. Voting at special polling places shall be made possible only at the special polling places set up for voting during the hours fixed by the polling district electoral committee at the advice of the heads of the bodies specified in this paragraph, on a last Wednesday, Thursday or Friday before polling day. In military units deployed abroad, voting shall be conducted in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission (by setting a voting date and transmission of ballot papers electronically), on the recommendation of the Minister of National Defence. Expenses related to voting at special polling places shall be covered from the state budget.
2. Organisation of voting at special polling places shall be the responsibility of the chairman of the electoral committee of a constituency within the territory of which that special polling place is situated. He shall, together with the chairmen of the polling district electoral committees who have been given such assignment by the constituency electoral committee, organise the participation of members of the electoral committees during voting at special polling places. Commanders of the military units deployed abroad shall be responsible for organising voting in those military units.
3. When carrying out, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, the electronic marking of voters who have participated in early voting (when voting in a municipality, at home as well as at special polling places), an early voting sheet shall be used. An early voting sheet shall be a document which an electoral committee or the head of a body having a special polling place (or a person authorised by him) prints out for a voter voting not on polling day from the information system of the Central Electoral Commission. When voting not on polling day, an early voting sheet shall be necessary. This sheet shall consist of three parts. The first part shall contain information about a voter and the poll documents issued to him. After the voting, the said part shall be stored at an electoral committee. The second part shall be a receipt confirming the acceptance of a filled-in covering envelope issued to the voter after the latter hands in the covering envelope sealed following the voting. The third part shall be a poll card handed to the voter together with the poll documents; when voting, the voter shall put the said poll card in the covering envelope. The poll card shall specify the voter’s forename and surname; the name and number of a polling district on the electoral poll of which the voter has been entered, and the address of a polling station; the successive number of the voter on the electoral roll of the polling district.
4. The places referred to in Articles 69, 70, 71, 72 and 73 of this Law must have some premises (place) where voter can, without interference and in secret, fill in the ballot papers and place them into a voting envelope. In these cases, the voting procedure may be observed by election observers who hold certificates of an election observer permitting them to observe an election in any polling district.
5. Members of a polling district electoral committee who are appointed to work at a special polling place by the chairman of the committee shall issue election documents to a voter in accordance with the procedure established by the Central Electoral Commission. Together with the ballot papers, the voter shall be issued with voting envelopes. A covering envelope shall be addressed by a member of the polling district electoral committee to that polling district electoral committee which is indicated in the poll card.
6. A voter shall vote in person and in secret:
1) fill in the ballot papers;
2) place the filled-in ballot papers in a ballot paper envelope;
3) seal the ballot paper envelope;
4) put the ballot paper envelope and the poll card in a covering envelope;
5) seal the covering envelope.
7. A voter shall hand the sealed covering envelope (containing the poll card and the ballot paper envelope with the ballot papers therein) to that member of the polling district electoral committee who issued him with the election documents. Having received the envelope handed by the voter, the said committee member shall affix a special label on the envelope in the voter’s presence and give the voter a receipt confirming the acceptance of this envelope.
8. The actions referred to in paragraphs 6 and 7 of this Article shall be carried out by a voter himself. If a voter is unable to carry out the said actions himself because of his disability, such actions shall, at his request, be carried out by a person of his choice. This person must fill in the ballot papers in the voter’s presence in compliance with his instructions and maintain the secrecy of the ballot.
9. Electoral observers and members of the polling district committee shall be prohibited from carrying out the actions referred to in paragraphs 6 and 7 of this Article on behalf of voters, as well as from accepting the unsealed covering envelopes from voters, or from issuing voters with election documents in places and to persons other than those provided for in Articles 71, 72 and 73 of this Law. The voters shall be prohibited from leaving special polling places with ballot papers, voting envelopes or passing them to other persons.
10. The Central Electoral Committee shall make use of services of postal service providers in order to deliver the filled-in voting envelopes of the voters who have voted at special polling places, in advance or at home in other constituencies to their own constituencies.
11. The chairman of a polling district electoral committee shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, submit to postal service providers the voting envelopes filled in by voters at a special polling place.
Article 671. Voting at home and early voting
1. Only the following persons may vote at home: voters with disabilities, voters with temporary working incapacity due to illness, voters aged 70 and over if because of their health condition they are unable to come to a polling district on polling day, have submitted a voter’s request, the form of which is set by the Central Electoral Commission, for voting at home and have been entered on the roll of voters voting at home. Electoral committees which draw up and update rolls of voters voting at home shall be entitled to receive the data on the persons with disabilities from the processor of the Republic of Lithuania register of persons covered by state social insurance and recipients of state social insurance benefits and the processor of the data on the establishment of a working capacity and disability level, while the data on the persons with temporary working incapacity – from the processor of the Republic of Lithuania register of persons covered by state social insurance and recipients of state social insurance benefits as well as from healthcare institutions. Electoral committees must not disseminate this information and shall use it only for drawing up and updating rolls of voters voting at home. When distributing election notices, members of the electoral committees must personally hand them to those voters who are entitled to vote at home.
2. Only the voters who are unable to arrive at a polling district to vote on polling day shall be entitled to early voting. A constituency electoral committee shall organise early voting. Early voting must be conducted from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the last Wednesday and Thursday before polling day, in the premises arranged beforehand and suitable for voting, which are in the building housing the workplace of the mayor (director of the administration) of the municipality in the territory of which the constituency is located. If a constituency comprises the territories of several municipalities, early voting shall be organised in all those municipalities. In order to hand out and accept ballot papers and voting envelopes during early voting, the chairman of a constituency electoral committee shall appoint not less than two members of a constituency electoral committee or polling district electoral committees who may not be proposed by the same political party. Early voting shall be supervised by the chairman of a constituency electoral committee or, upon his instruction, a member of the constituency electoral committee. The Chairperson of the Central Electoral Commission, a member of this Commission authorised by him or the chairman of the constituency electoral committee who has established, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, the cases of bribery of voters, transportation of a voter to vote, encouragement to vote for a fee or other cases grossly violating the voter's rights, must suspend early voting until the violations will be removed and it will be possible to conduct an election freely and democratically in accordance with the requirements of this Law.
3. When a run-off election or a by-election to the Seimas is held not in all single-member constituencies formed in the Republic of Lithuania, early voting shall be organized in these constituencies according to the procedure laid down in paragraph 2 if this Article.
4. Applications of voters to vote at home shall be submitted to polling district electoral committees. The acceptance of applications to vote at home by telephone or by email and by submitting an application from voters residing within the territory of a particular polling district shall start with the issue of election notices to such voters and end on the last Wednesday before polling day. The acceptance of applications to vote at home from voters who temporarily stay within the territory of the respective polling district and have not been entered on the electoral roll of this polling district shall end on the last Tuesday before polling day. A voter who is unable to complete an application to vote at home because of his disability or to hand it to a polling district electoral committee, may authorise his family member, neighbour or a person who takes care of him or a committee member to carry out the said actions on his behalf. The said person shall sign the voter’s application and indicate his forename, surname and personal number.
5. On the last Thursday before polling day, a polling district electoral committee shall draw up and approve a roll of voters voting at home, who are entered on the electoral roll of that polling district. On the last Wednesday before polling day a constituency electoral committee shall draw up and approve a roll of voters who reside or temporarily stay within the territory of a concrete polling district but have been entered on the electoral roll of another polling district and have not been entered on the electoral roll of this polling district when updating them.
6. On the last Friday or Saturday before polling day, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at least two members of a polling district electoral committee shall deliver voting envelopes and ballot papers to the homes of the voters who have been entered on the roll of the polling district voters voting at home and who are the voters of this polling district. On the last Thursday before polling day at least two members of a constituency electoral committee or, upon the instruction of its chairman, at least two members of a polling district electoral committee shall deliver voting envelopes and ballot papers to the homes of the voters who have been entered on the roll of the constituency voters voting at home, but who have not been entered on the electoral roll of the polling district within the territory of which they temporarily stay. Voting at home and early voting may be observed by election observers who have a certificate to observe the election in any polling district of this constituency. After the completion of voting, the sealed covering envelopes shall be delivered to the constituency electoral committee that transfers them to polling districts together with the election documents of the voters who voted. Rolls of voters who voted at home and in advance, unused ballot papers shall be included into the accounting and stored by the electoral committees that organised the voting. One the election is over, such committees shall transfer the said documents together with other election documents to a relevant constituency electoral committee or the Central Electoral Commission.
7. A concrete schedule of electoral committee members’ coming to the homes of voters shall be approved by the chairman of a polling district electoral committee or a constituency electoral committee not later than, respectively, on the last Wednesday or Thursday preceding the noon of polling day. This schedule shall be made public; its copy shall be posted up on the billboard of the polling district (constituency) electoral committee on the day of approval of the schedule. Only the electoral committee members and election observers proposed by different political parties may come along to the homes of the voters voting at home.
8. The provisions of Article 67(6) and (8) of this Law shall apply to voting at home and early voting.
9. A voter shall hand the sealed covering envelope (containing the poll card, the ballot paper envelope with the ballot papers therein) to a member of the polling district (constituency electoral) committee. Having received the envelope handed by the voter, the said committee member shall affix a special label on the envelope in the voter’s presence and give the voter a receipt confirming the acceptance of this envelope.
10. It shall be prohibited to exert influence on the determination of a voter who votes at home or to hasten his voting. Electoral committee members and election observers shall be prohibited from carrying out for a voter the actions referred to in Article 67(6) and (8) of this Law, as well as from accepting from the voter the unsealed covering envelope. Voters shall be prohibited from leaving with ballot papers or passing them to other persons.
11. The chairman of a municipal electoral committee shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, submit to postal service providers the voting envelopes filled in by the voters who voted in advance.
Article 68. Organisation of voting in diplomatic missions or consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania and in additional polling places abroad at a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania as well as aboard the ships
1. Voting commissions shall be set up at diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania as well as aboard the ships in order to organise voting and count the votes cast.
2. Voting commissions shall be composed of a chairman and at least two members. They shall be set up at a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania by its head from the employees of the diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania, or from other citizens of the Republic of Lithuania residing in a foreign country. The procedure for giving written pledges of voting commission members shall be established by the Central Electoral Commission.
3. Voting commissions aboard the ships shall be set up by ship captains being citizens of the Republic of Lithuania, taking into account the decision of a meeting of the ship’s crew being citizens of the Republic of Lithuania.
4. The Central Electoral Commission shall establish the procedure for voting, vote counting and submitting records to the Central Electoral Commission as well as the procedure for issuing certificates to election observers.
5. The Central Electoral Commission shall, on the recommendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, draw up a list of diplomatic missions, consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania and additional polling places abroad at a diplomatic mission or a consular post of the Republic of Lithuania in which polling is conducted and shall determine the days of voting for each diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania (at least three days).
6. In diplomatic missions, consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania – their heads and aboard the ships – their captains who are citizens of the Republic of Lithuania shall be responsible for organising voting and submitting to the Central Electoral Commission records and other documents designated by it. In an additional polling place at a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania, the head of that diplomatic mission or consular post shall be responsible for organising voting and submitting to the Central Electoral Commission records and other designated documents. The voting commissions shall transmit the data of the election documents to the Central Electoral Committee in a safe way selected by the appropriate diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania.
7. Voting shall not be organised aboard the ships on which there are no conditions for organising the voting in accordance with the requirements of this Law.
8. The chairmen of voting commissions shall receive 0.62 of the base amount of the basic salary for a working day at the voting commissions and the members of the voting commissions shall get 0,5 of the base amount of the basic salary.
9. The head of a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania or the Minister of Foreign Affairs may, in agreement with the Central Electoral Commission, send to the diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania or an additional polling place abroad at the diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania the members of a voting commission (respectively, employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the diplomatic missions or consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania) to organise the voting thereat. These and other expenses related to the organisation of voting shall be paid from the state budget funds allocated to the Central Electoral Commission for the organisation and conduct of an election. The Central Electoral Commission shall sign with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a contract on the use of state budget funds for the organisation of an election.
Article 69. Voting aboard the ships
1. Voters (ship’s crew and passengers) who are aboard a ship, if they left from a port of the Republic of Lithuania not earlier than four days before polling day and have not returned until polling day, or in the presence of other circumstances because of which they cannot vote in their polling district, to vote in advance or in a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania, or in an additional polling place abroad at a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania, shall be eligible to vote aboard the ship.
2. On a recommendation of the Minister of Transport and Communications, the Central Electoral Commission shall draw up a list of ships sailing under the flag of the State of Lithuania on which there are not less than five crew members voters, the voting shall be organised and the radio communication shall be maintained during the voting. On the recommendation of the Minister of Transport and Communications, the Central Electoral Commission shall fix such time for voting aboard the ship that each voter who is aboard the ship would be given the opportunity to vote.
3. Repealed as of 8 October 2019.
Article 70. Voting in diplomatic missions or consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania and in additional polling places abroad at diplomatic missions or consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania
1. Voters who have gone to foreign states shall be entitled to vote in a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania during its business hours. Not less than four hours must be allotted for voting during a business day of the said bodies. Voting in an additional polling place abroad at a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania shall take place during the hours set by the diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania. Voting shall end on polling day at the Republic of Lithuania time.
2. Voting commissions set up by diplomatic missions or consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania shall deliver election documents by hand to the voters who have notified the said bodies about their home address or, at the voters’ request, send the documents by post and accept them.
3. Voters arriving to vote at a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania, or in an additional polling place abroad at the diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania shall be prohibited from leaving with election documents or passing them to other persons.
Article 71. Voting at healthcare institutions (except outpatient institutions), social care and guardianship institutions
1. Voters who due to their health condition or age are in healthcare institutions (except outpatient institutions), social care and guardianship institutions shall be entitled to vote at such institutions.
2. A constituency electoral committee shall, not later than 15 days before polling day and on the recommendation of the heads of the institutions referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, draw up a list of special polling places and set their working hours to be in conformity with Article 67(1) of this Law.
3. The heads of the bodies referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall draw up rolls of voters voting at special polling places. The following must be indicated in the said rolls: a voter’s forename and surname, personal number. The head of a body shall transfer a roll of the voters voting at a special polling place to a constituency electoral committee, receive early voting sheets from it or print them according to the data received electronically and ensure the delivery of such sheets by hand to voters, allot the premises appropriate for voting, and be responsible for notification of the voters about the working place and time of the special polling place and provision of conditions for voters to reach it.
4. Voters without motor disorders shall vote in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 67(6) and (8) of this Law. Voters with motor disorders shall be visited by at least two polling district electoral committee members and election observers (should they wish so).
5. Voters who are unable to vote themselves because of their disability may authorise other persons to vote for them. These persons must fill in a ballot paper in the voter’s presence under his instructions and maintain the secrecy of the ballot.
6. Committee members and election observers shall be prohibited from carrying out the actions related to voting, as well as from accepting the unsealed covering envelope from the voter.
7. It shall be prohibited to exert influence upon a voter, his self-determination or to rush him to vote.
Article 72. Voting at military units
1. Voters performing compulsory military service shall be entitled to vote at the military units where they serve. Voters performing active military service, civil service or working under employment contracts in international military operations abroad shall be entitled to vote at the military units deployed abroad and involved in those international military operations. The procedure for and the time of voting at the military units deployed abroad shall be laid down by the Central Electoral Commission on the recommendation of the Minister of National Defence.
2. A constituency electoral committee shall, not later than 15 days prior to polling day and on the recommendation of the commanders of the military units deployed within the territory of the Republic of Lithuania, draw up a list of special polling places and set their working hours to be in conformity with Article 67(1) of this Law.
3. Commanders of military units shall draw up rolls of voters voting at special polling places. The following must be indicated in the rolls of voters voting at a special polling place: a voter’s forename and surname, his personal number. The commander of a military unit shall transfer a roll of the voters voting at a special polling place to a constituency electoral committee, receive early voting sheets from it or print them according to the data received electronically and ensure the delivery of such sheets by hand to voters, allot the premises appropriate for voting, and be responsible for notification of the voters about the working place and time of the special polling place as well as provision of conditions for the voters to reach it. If it is impossible to set a special polling place or to ensure that the voters will be able to properly carry out the voting-related actions, the commanders of the military units (with the exception of the commanders of the military units deployed abroad) shall create conditions for the voters to go to another special polling place for voting or to travel on polling day to that polling district on the electoral roll of which their names have been entered.
4. The provisions of Article 67 of this Law shall apply to voting at military units.
5. It shall be prohibited to exert influence upon self-determination of a voter voting at a military unit or to hasten his voting.
Article 73. Voting at penitentiary institutions
1. Voters who serve an arrest or custodial sentence shall be entitled to vote in an institution where they serve a sentence.
2. A constituency electoral committee shall, not later than 15 days before polling day and on the recommendation of the heads of penitentiary institutions, draw up a list of special polling places and set their working hours to be in conformity with Article 67(1) of this Law.
3. The heads of penitentiary institutions shall draw up rolls of voters voting at special polling places. The following must be indicated in the said rolls: a voter’s forename and surname, his personal number. The head of a penitentiary institution shall transfer a roll of voters voting at a special polling place to a constituency electoral committee, receive early voting sheets from it or print them according to the data received electronically and ensure the delivery of such sheets by hand to voters, allot the premises appropriate for voting, and be responsible for notification of the voters about the working place and time of the special polling place as well as provision of conditions for the voters to reach it.
4. The provisions of Article 67 of this Law shall apply to voting at penitentiary institutions.
5. The provisions of this Article and Article 67 of this Law shall apply to voting at arrest houses, remand prisons.
6. It shall be prohibited to exert influence upon self-determination of a voter voting in an arrest house, remand prison or penitentiary institution or to hasten his voting.
CHAPTER TEN
COUNTING OF VOTES
Article 74. Accounting for voting envelopes and ballot papers
1. The procedure of accounting for voting envelopes and ballot papers in the Republic of Lithuania shall be laid down and such accounting shall be managed by the Central Electoral Commission.
2. Accounting of voting envelopes, special labels and ballot papers, their issuing and acceptance when voting at home and at special polling places shall be managed by chairmen of polling district electoral committees. The chairman of a polling district electoral committee shall indicate the accounting data in a log specially designated for this purpose. The accounting for, issue and acceptance of voting envelopes and ballot papers used when voting at the military units deployed abroad shall be managed by the commanders of those military units. The commanders of the military units shall transfer to the Central Electoral Commission the accounting data on election documents, as well as the unused covering envelopes, ballot papers and covering envelopes with the ballot papers filled in by voters. The Central Electoral Commission shall, not later than until polling day, forward the received voting envelopes with the ballot papers filled in by the voters to the polling district electoral committee on the electoral roll of which the voter concerned has been entered.
3. Postal service providers shall deliver voting envelopes containing ballot papers filled in by voters to constituency electoral committees on polling day, but not later than by 11 a.m., and the constituency electoral committees shall forward them to respective polling district electoral committees by the close of the poll.
4. The covering envelopes, unused and spoilt ballot papers of the voters who voted at home on the last Thursday before polling day shall be transferred to a constituency electoral committee by the members of the electoral committees who went to the homes of the voters pursuant to the provisions of Article 671 of this Law. The constituency electoral committee shall, not later than on the last Friday before polling day, deliver the covering envelopes to postal service providers.
5. The covering envelopes, unused and spoilt ballot papers of the voters who voted on the last Friday or Saturday before polling day shall be transferred to the chairman of a polling district electoral committee not later than by 9 p.m. of the same day. Having checked the received election documents, the polling district electoral committee shall decide whether or not voting at home has met the requirements of this Law.
6. Covering envelopes shall be stored together with ballot papers.
7. Before starting to count the votes of voters, the covering envelopes of the voters received from the constituency electoral committee shall be put together with the covering envelopes of the voters who voted at home, mixed and counted together according to Article 78 of this Law.
Article 75. Organisation of work of a polling district committee in the vote counting
1. The chairman of a polling district electoral committee shall organise and supervise vote counting in the committee. His instructions when counting votes shall be mandatory and all persons present in the polling station must adhere to them. He must ensure that votes would be counted in the prescribed manner and shall have the right to warn any person present in the polling station if he hinders the committee in its work or does not perform his duties properly. The committee chairman shall publicly announce such a decision. The decision shall be entered into the vote counting record, and shall be signed by the committee chairman. The decision must be enforced immediately and, where necessary, the electoral committee may consider it only after the vote counting record has been signed.
2. The data which are entered into the record must be made public in such a way that all the persons participating in vote counting would hear them. If the validity of a ballot paper or the meaning of the marks therein raise doubts, the committee chairman shall present it to the committee members and shall announce voting concerning its evaluation (if there are several such ballot papers, he shall produce them one by one). The results of this voting shall be entered on the empty side of the ballot paper.
Article 76. Accounting for ballot papers in polling districts
1. After the closure of a polling station, the chairman of a polling district electoral committee shall, in the presence of at least three-fifths of the committee members, seal and stamp the ballot box slot.
2. Unused ballot papers shall be individually collected from each member of the polling district electoral committee and counted publicly, and the number thereof shall be entered in the vote counting record. It shall be checked, according to the signatures in the electoral roll, arrival cards, ballot papers which have been spoilt by voters and returned to be replaced, whether a committee member has issued all ballot papers lawfully.
3. The electoral committee shall count unused and spoilt ballot papers publicly; annul them by cutting off the upper right corner; place them into the envelopes specially designated for this purpose and stamp these envelopes. The number of unused or spoilt ballot papers shall be entered into the vote counting record.
Article 77. Counting of votes of voters who voted at a polling station of a polling district
1. A polling district electoral committee, in the presence of at least three-fifths of its members, shall inspect the ballot box of the polling station whether the seals have not been broken and whether there are no other evidences which indicate that it could have been opened or that the ballot papers could have been removed in any other way. The electoral committee shall decide whether the ballot box has been tampered with in the presence of at least three-fifths of its members. If the electoral committee decides that the ballot box has been tampered with, a statement shall be drawn up about this, the ballot box shall be packed up, the packet shall be put under seal and the votes shall not be counted. The ballot box shall be delivered to a constituency electoral committee. The constituency electoral committee shall take a decision concerning counting of votes of this ballot box.
2. After verifying, in the presence of at least three-fifths of the members of the polling district electoral committee as well as the election observers that the ballot box has not been tampered with, it shall be opened, all the ballot papers shall be placed on the tables on which there are no other documents and writing materials (except black lead pencils), and the electoral committee shall start counting the votes. Ballot papers shall be sorted out according to the constituencies (single-member and multi-member constituencies) and then into valid and invalid ballot papers. Valid ballot papers shall be divided into groups according to the marks made in them by voters. Each group of ballot papers must be recounted at least twice. For the second time, ballot papers must be counted by other committee members. Ballot papers which do not hold necessary attributes (irregular ballot papers, unsealed or sealed with a seal of another electoral committee, etc.) must, if found, be separated from the rest of the ballot papers. The constituency electoral committee shall be immediately informed about such ballot papers and this fact must be entered into the vote counting record of the polling district. Counting results must be proclaimed and entered into the record, counted ballot papers put into the special envelope (envelopes) which is sealed and safeguarded. After the electoral committee establishes how many votes have been cast by voters who voted in the polling station of the polling district for the lists of candidates in the multi-member constituency and for the candidates in the single-member constituencies, counting of votes of the voters who voted by voting envelopes shall commence.
3. Ballot papers from the marking whereof it is possible to establish which list of candidates a voter voted for, but it is impossible to establish what kind of opinion he expressed regarding the candidates from the list he voted for, may not be declared invalid only because of this reason. If a voter has not indicated the election number of a candidate in a ballot paper, indicated a non-existing election number of the candidate, as well as when it is impossible to determine the voter’s will from the inscription or inscriptions, preference vote or votes in the special space/spaces of the second part of this ballot paper shall not be counted. If the election number of the same candidate is written down two or three times, only one vote shall be counted in accordance with this ballot paper.
4. A decision regarding the declaration of a ballot paper invalid or in the event of a dispute between the electoral committee members concerning the assessment of marks in the ballot paper shall be adopted by the electoral committee by way of voting. The result of such voting shall be indicated on the other side of the ballot paper.
5. Votes shall be counted in such a way that this procedure, the marks of voters in the ballot papers may be observed by all the persons present during the counting of votes, and they would be able to make sure that votes are counted justly and fairly. The electoral committee must recount the votes if at least one committee member or election observer requests so before the signing of the vote counting record.
6. The Central Electoral Commission shall lay down a specific procedure for the counting of ballot papers and votes not later than 14 days before an election.
Article 78. Accounting of voters who have voted by voting envelopes, counting of their votes and preference votes for candidates
1. After the counting of ballot papers found in a ballot box, the votes cast by voting envelopes shall be counted in the following procedure:
1) the chairman of the polling district electoral committee presents unopened covering envelopes, i.e. the voting envelopes of voters of this polling district who voted at home as well as the voting envelopes of voters who voted in advance and whose voting envelopes were received from the constituency electoral committee. The number of the said covering envelopes shall be announced and entered in a vote counting record;
2) the covering envelopes are opened one at a time;
3) a poll card is taken out of the covering envelope, the voter’s surname and the successive number of the voter on the electoral roll of the polling district are read aloud, this information is checked against the electoral roll of the polling district, and in the polling districts which are connected to the electronic electoral roll, also against the data of the said electoral roll. A ballot paper envelope shall be stamped with the seal of the polling district. If the person on the poll card located in the covering envelope is not on the electoral roll of this polling district or if the voter’s signature in the electoral roll indicates that he has already voted in the polling district, or if it is specified in the electoral roll that the consent was given for that person to vote in another polling district, or if another voting envelope has been received from the same voter, if there is no poll card or there is more than one poll card in the covering envelope, or if there is more than one ballot paper envelope in the covering envelope, such voting envelope shall be recognised as inappropriate. The seal shall not be affixed on the ballot paper envelope (envelopes) located in the covering envelope which is recognised as inappropriate, the ballot paper envelope shall be crossed through, the word ‘Negalioja’ (invalid) shall be written down on it and the grounds why the envelope is recognised as inappropriate shall be indicated. A ballot paper (ballot papers) located in such a ballot paper envelope shall not be valid and the envelope shall not be opened. The content of the envelopes recognised as inappropriate shall not be taken into account in the vote counting record of the polling district, however, the number of such envelopes shall be entered;
4) in the electoral roll of the polling district, the words ‘Balsavo vokais’ (voted by envelopes) or ‘BV’ (VBE) shall be written next to the surname of the voter whose vote has been received through voting by envelopes and the fact that the voter has voted shall be indicated on the electronic electoral roll of the polling districts connected to the electronic electoral roll;
5) the stamped ballot paper envelope are placed in the ballot box prepared and sealed according to the established requirements;
6) when all voting envelopes have been inspected, the ballot box shall be opened and the stamped ballot paper envelopes are opened. If there is more than one ballot paper of the single-member constituency and multi-member constituency in the voting envelope, all ballot papers in the envelope shall be considered invalid. The votes received by voting envelopes shall be further counted according to the requirements of Article 77 of this Law.
2. If only one sealed ballot paper envelope is in a polling district (committee), it, in order to protect the secrecy of the ballot, shall not be opened and shall be handed over to the electoral committee that has formed this committee. This committee shall enter the results of the voting in its vote counting record.
3. After votes cast in a polling station and by voting envelopes for the lists of candidates and the candidates have been counted, all data have been entered into the vote counting record of a single-member constituency and the first part of the vote counting record of the multi-member constituency, the record and the first part of the record have been signed by the committee members, chairman and election observers and the polling district electoral committee has announced to the constituency electoral committee that the votes for the lists of candidates were counted, the polling district electoral committee may commence counting votes cast for the candidates (preference votes). The polling district electoral committee may decide to count preference votes at once or, with the consent of the chairman of the constituency electoral committee, to count them at another time, but not later than within 24 hours. If it is decided to count preference votes at another time, the ballot papers to be counted shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, be transferred in the special envelope for safekeeping to the constituency electoral committee. In this case, the constituency electoral committee, after it has accepted the election documents from the polling district electoral committee, must take one of the following decisions on the counting of preference votes in the ballot papers transferred to it:
1) to return the ballot papers and to instruct the polling district electoral committee from which it has received them to count such preference votes;
2) to amend a decision of the polling district electoral committee from which the election documents have been received regarding the counting of preference votes and to instruct the electoral committee of another polling district to count preference votes, or to count preference votes itself. In this case, the constituency electoral committee must set the place and time for counting preference votes.
4. If the electoral committee counts preference votes the next day or recounts ballot papers, it shall, in the presence of at least three-fifths of the members, check whether the special envelope (envelopes) has not been opened. If the polling district electoral committee takes a decision that the envelope has been tampered with or its contents have been changed, an act shall be drawn up concerning this fact, the envelope shall be packed, the packet shall be sealed and the votes shall not be counted. The packet shall be delivered to the constituency electoral committee. The Central Electoral Commission shall be immediately notified thereof. The constituency electoral committee shall take a decision regarding the counting of the votes which are in the packet. After making sure that the envelope has not been tampered with, the counting of preference votes shall commence. Information on the time and place of the counting of preference votes, also in the case where the constituency electoral committee decides to recount the ballot papers, must, not later than one hour before the commencement of the counting, be announced electronically to the representatives of the parties nominating the lists of candidates, to the candidates who have declared themselves to be candidates or their representatives and election observers in that constituency. All ballot papers shall be put on the tables on which there are no other documents and writing materials (except black lead pencils), and the electoral committee shall check if there are all the ballot papers from which preference votes must be counted. A particular procedure for counting preference votes shall be established by the Central Electoral Commission not later than seven days before an election. Votes must be counted in such a way that such procedure might be observed by all the persons present during the counting of the votes who would be able to ascertain that the votes are counted fairly and justly. Counted votes shall be recorded in the second part of the vote counting record of the multi-member constituency, ballot papers shall be packed, the packet shall be sealed and transferred to the constituency electoral committee.
5. If a polling district electoral committee receives the covering envelopes addressed to another polling district electoral committee, these envelopes shall not be opened and shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, be transferred to other electoral committees to count the votes cast by the ballot papers located in these envelopes for the lists of candidates and the candidates.
Article 79. Vote counting records of a polling district
1. Two vote counting records shall be drawn up in every polling district: one of the single-member constituency and one of the multi-member constituency. The vote counting record of the multi-member constituency shall consist of two parts.
2. The vote counting record of the single-member constituency shall cover the following:
1) the number of voters in the polling district;
2) the number of ballot papers of the single-member constituency received from the constituency electoral committee;
3) the number of ballot papers handed to each member of the electoral committee, the number of ballot papers handed to voters, the number of signatures of voters, the number of arrival cards, and the number of unused and spoilt ballot papers;
4) the number of annulled ballot papers;
5) the number of voters who have voted at a polling station of the polling district;
6) the time of the opening of the ballot box;
7) the number of invalid ballot papers found in the ballot box;
8) the number of valid ballot papers found in the ballot box;
9) the number of votes found in the ballot box which have been separately cast for each candidate for Member of the Seimas;
10) the number of voting envelopes of voters who have voted at home in this polling district, the number of voting envelopes of the voters who have voted in advance, received from the constituency electoral committee, the total number of covering envelopes for voting by post, the number of sealed ballot paper envelopes; the number of the envelopes held to be inappropriate;
11) the number of invalid ballot papers received by voting envelopes (ballot papers which are in unsealed and unopened envelopes are not counted and are not be indicated as invalid);
12) the number of valid ballot papers received by voting envelopes;
13) the number of votes received in voting envelopes, cast for each candidate for Member of the Seimas;
14) the total number of voters who participated in the election in the polling district;
15) the total number of invalid ballot papers in the polling district; and
16) the total number of votes cast for each candidate for Member of the Seimas.
3. The vote counting record of the multi-member constituency shall cover the following:
1) the number of voters in the polling district;
2) the number of ballot papers of the multi-member constituency received from the constituency electoral committee;
3) the number of ballot papers handed to each member of the electoral committee, the number of ballot papers handed to voters, the number of signatures of voters, the number of arrival cards, and the number of unused and spoilt ballot papers;
4) the number of annulled ballot papers;
5) the number of voters who have voted at a polling station of the polling district;
6) the time of the opening of the ballot box;
7) the number of invalid ballot papers found in the ballot box;
8) the number of valid ballot papers found in the ballot box;
9) the number of votes found in the ballot box which have been separately cast for the list of candidates nominated by each party (their coalition);
10) the number of voting envelopes of the voters who have voted at home in this polling district, the number of voting envelopes of the voters who have voted in advance (the envelopes being received from the constituency electoral committee), the total number of the covering envelopes, the total number of the voting envelopes received, the number of the sealed ballot paper envelopes, the number of the envelopes recognised as inappropriate;
11) the number of invalid ballot papers received by voting envelopes;
12) the number of valid ballot papers received by voting envelopes;
13) the number of votes received by voting envelopes for the list of candidates nominated by each party (their coalition);
14) the total number of voters who participated in the election in the polling district;
15) the total number of invalid ballot papers in the polling district; and
16) the total number of votes cast for the list of candidates nominated by each party (their coalition).
4. The number of voters of a polling district shall be established according to the electoral roll of the polling district. The number of voters who have been issued with the ballot papers shall be established according to the voters’ signatures proving that the ballot papers have been received. The number of voters who have voted in the polling district shall be established according to the number of the ballot papers lawfully issued to voters by the electoral committee of that polling district and found in the ballot box of the polling district. The total number of the voters who have participated in the election in the polling district shall be established by adding the number of the ballot papers found in the ballot box to the number of the ballot papers received by voting envelopes and counted.
5. If more ballot papers are found in the ballot box than were delivered to voters, the electoral committee shall take measures to clarify the causes. This fact shall be entered in the vote counting record, indicating the number of extra ballot papers found.
6. After all data have been entered into the polling district single-member constituency vote counting record and the first part of the polling district multi-member constituency vote counting record and all the ballot papers have been put into sealed packets and the special envelope (envelopes), the vote counting records of the polling district shall be signed by the chairman and members of the polling district committee, followed by the signatures of the election observers. Remarks of the election observers, separate opinions of the members of the polling district electoral committee shall be appended to the relevant record and shall be an inseparable part thereof. Extracts or copies of the records shall be presented to the election observers and the electoral committee members at their request.
7. The second part of the multi-member constituency vote counting record shall cover the following:
1) the number of ballot papers which are being counted;
2) the number of ballot papers in which voters have not indicated preference votes;
3) the number of preference votes cast for each candidate;
4) the sum total of preference votes received by all candidates;
5) other vote counting data established by the Central Electoral Commission that are necessary to verify whether the votes cast by voters have been counted accurately.
8. After all the data have been entered in the second part of the vote counting record of the polling district and all the counted ballot papers have been put into the sealed packets, this part of the vote counting record of the polling district shall be signed by the chairman and members of the district electoral commission, followed by the signatures of the electoral observers. Remarks of the election observers, separate opinions of the committee members shall be appended to the second part of the vote counting record and shall be an integral part thereof. An extract or a copy of the second part of the record shall be presented to the election observers and the electoral committee members at their request. If the polling district electoral committee or the constituency electoral committee establishes that an error has been made in the data recorded in the first part of the vote counting record, a record shall be drawn up to correct the error. The second part of the record and ballot papers shall be returned to the constituency electoral committee. The constituency electoral committee shall take a decision concerning the error.
Article 80. Invalid ballot papers
1. Invalid ballot papers shall be:
1) ballot papers of a non-established sample;
2) ballot papers not stamped with the seal of an appropriate electoral committee;
3) ballot papers of the wrong constituency;
4) in a single-member constituency, those ballot papers on which the voter has marked more than one candidate for Seimas member, or has not marked any candidate, or it is impossible to ascertain the voter’s will from the marking made thereon; and
5) in the multi-member constituency, those ballot papers on which the voter has marked more than one list of candidates or has not marked any list of candidates, or it is impossible to ascertain the voter’s will from the mark made thereon.
2. The decision to declare a ballot paper invalid or, in the event of dispute among the committee members as to the assessment of markings on the ballot paper, shall be taken by the electoral committee by voting. The result of such voting shall be indicated on the other side of the ballot paper. If the polling district electoral committee declares the ballot paper invalid in accordance with points 1, 2 or 3 of paragraph 1 of this Article, it shall immediately inform the constituency electoral committee about this.
Article 81. Presentation of documents of a polling district to the constituency electoral committee
1. A polling district electoral committee shall put all ballot papers as well as invalid and unused ballot papers, other election documents into packets, inventory them and affix the seal to them in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission. The packets shall be delivered together with the vote counting record and its annexes, electoral rolls, records of the polling district committee and financial documentation for the whole period of its work to the constituency electoral committee within 12 hours of the close of the poll, unless the Central Electoral Commission provides otherwise.
2. The Central Electoral Commission and the Ministry of the Interior must ensure the security of transportation of the election documents and the persons transporting them.
Article 82. Counting of votes in a constituency electoral committee
1. A constituency electoral committee shall accept the documents delivered by the polling district electoral committee and shall check:
1) whether all required documents (packets and special envelopes with ballot papers) have been delivered;
2) check the sealing and descriptions of the packets (whether the description is full and correct);
3) whether all data have been entered in the vote counting records; whether they do not contradict one another; whether they correspond to the data available to the constituency electoral committee (the number of ballot papers issued to the polling district electoral committee, the number of voters, the number of covering envelopes received, the data on the votes cast by voters for the lists of candidates which are indicated in the first and second parts of the multi-member constituency vote counting record, etc.); if there are all necessary signatures; whether all separate opinions of the committee members, remarks of the election observers are attached to the record in which they are specified;
4) whether all remarks and complaints of the voters have been considered at the polling district electoral committee.
2. The constituency electoral committee shall immediately report the data of the vote counting record, its comments concerning the documents submitted by the polling district electoral committee to the Central Electoral Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down by it, and shall ensure the security of the submitted documents.
3. The packets sealed by the polling district electoral committees, which contain ballot papers or other election documents, may be opened in the constituency electoral committee only by the decision of the constituency electoral committee. The constituency electoral committee may recount the ballot papers of the polling district electoral committee or instruct the polling district electoral committee from which it has received the ballot papers to recount the said ballot papers, or instruct another polling district electoral committee to recount the ballot papers. When recounting ballot papers, the electoral committees must act in compliance with Article 78(4) of this Law. The constituency electoral committee must, in the cases specified in paragraphs 6 and 7 of this Article, take a decision to recount ballot papers of all or only certain polling district electoral committees.
4. Upon establishing the shortcomings of the documents submitted by the polling district electoral committee, the constituency electoral committee shall take measures to rectify the shortcomings, request the chairman of the polling district electoral committee to submit the missing documents.
5. The constituency electoral committee shall count the votes in the following manner: sum up the data submitted by the polling district electoral committees and add to them the votes cast by voting envelopes which have been counted by the constituency electoral committee.
6. The constituency electoral committee must take a decision to recount ballot papers of all the polling districts of a single-member constituency when, prior to the signing of the vote counting record, this has been requested by at least one member of the committee, a representative of a party or a candidate, and when the difference between the votes for the candidates who came first or second in this single-member constituency in accordance with the preliminary election results, is less than 50.
7. A constituency electoral committee shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, select by drawing lots a polling district or districts and a list or lists of candidates therein for which votes have been cast and the preference votes for the candidates of which must be recounted and organise the vote recounting. After the votes have been recounted, the votes recounting record of the polling district shall be drawn up. If, after the recounting of votes, different results of the counting of votes are established compared to those established by the polling district electoral committee, all votes cast by voters of that polling district shall be recounted.
Article 83. Delivery of constituency vote counting documents to the Central Electoral Commission
All documents (except financial documentation) received from the polling districts, the electoral rolls, the vote counting record of the constituency, the minutes of the constituency electoral committee for the whole period of the activities and other election documents shall be put into special packets and sealed by the constituency electoral committee. The packets shall be delivered to the Central Electoral Commission within the time limit fixed by the Central Electoral Commission.
Article 84. Participation of election observers in vote counting and the establishment of election results
1. The election observers and also representatives of the mass media may participate in the counting of votes in polling districts and constituencies, and also in the establishment of election results in the constituencies.
2. The election observers shall have the right to make remarks and claims to the electoral committees concerning violation of this Law and other laws of the Republic of Lithuania, but they must not hinder the work of the electoral committees. The election observers shall have the right to make a written protest to the polling district electoral committee, which is appended to the vote counting record of the polling district and delivered to the constituency electoral committee together with other election documents of the polling district. The protest of an election observer to the constituency electoral committee shall be appended to the vote counting record of the appropriate constituency. The protests shall be considered by the electoral committee to which they have been made.
Article 85. Declaration of preliminary election results
1. Preliminary election results may be declared only by the Central Electoral Commission. If the constituency electoral committee communicates the preliminary data of the election results in all polling districts, the Central Electoral Commission must immediately prepare a report to the mass media. This report shall be published on the Internet in the first place.
2. Until the report of the Central Electoral Commission, the representatives of the mass media shall be prohibited from disseminating the information about vote counting or election results by video or sound recording equipment, orally, in writing, or otherwise.
Article 86. Complaints about elections and decisions of electoral committees taken after the close of poll
1. Parties which have nominated a candidate for Member of the Seimas, candidates for Members of the Seimas, their election representatives, election observers may appeal against decisions of the polling district electoral committees concerning the drawing-up of vote counting records to the constituency electoral committee not later than within 24 hours of the drawing-up thereof. These complaints must be examined not later than within 24 hours.
2. Decisions of a constituency electoral committee concerning vote counting records may be appealed against to the Central Electoral Commission not later than within 72 hours following the drawing-up thereof and must be examined before the official proclamation of the election results.
3. While examining complaints against the decisions of the polling district electoral committees concerning the drawing-up of vote counting records, the constituency electoral committees, in the presence of at least three-fifths of the committee members, may recount ballot papers which are presented by the polling district electoral committee, and, in the event of an arithmetical error in the records, incorrectly calculated valid and invalid ballot papers, the committees shall draw up an additional vote counting record of the polling district and append it to the vote counting record of the polling district. The constituency electoral committee shall not have the right to nullify the vote counting records of the polling district electoral committee.
4. While investigating a complaint against the decision of the constituency electoral committee concerning the drawing-up of the vote counting record of the constituency, the Central Electoral Commission may recount ballot papers which are presented by the constituency electoral committee, and, in the event of an mathematical error in the record, incorrectly counted valid or invalid ballot papers, shall draw up an additional vote counting record of the constituency, polling district and append it to the vote counting record of the constituency.
5. Parties which have nominated a candidate for Member of the Seimas, candidates for Members of the Seimas, their election representatives, election observers may appeal against decisions of the electoral committees concerning the drawing-up of vote counting records to the Central Electoral Commission not later than within 24 hours of the drawing-up thereof. These complaints must be examined not later than within 24 hours.
6.. Parties which have nominated candidates for Members of the Seimas, as well as candidates for Members of the Seimas, may appeal to the Seimas or the President of the Republic against the decisions of the Central Electoral Committee or against the refusal of the Central Electoral Commission to investigate complaints about violations of the Law on Elections to the Seimas not later than within 24 hours after the proclamation of the election results. In this event, the Seimas or the President of the Republic shall, not later than within 48 hours, appeal to the Constitutional Court with the inquiry concerning the violation of the Law on Elections to the Seimas.
Article 87. Vote counting records of a constituency
1. Based on the vote counting records and, where necessary, ballot papers and other election documents of the polling districts, the constituency electoral committee shall establish and enter in the vote counting records of the constituency the following:
1) the number of the voters in the constituency;
2) the number of voters who have participated in the election, by separately specifying those who have participated in the single-member constituency and in that part of the multi-member constituency which this single-member constituency constitutes;
3) the number of invalid ballot papers as well as the data established by the Central Electoral Commission and necessary when checking whether the votes cast by the voters have been counted accurately, the final numbers of ballot papers, covering and ballot paper envelopes, the results of accounting for the blanks and seals used in the election;
4) the total number of valid ballot papers and invalid ballot papers in the constituency;
5) the number of votes cast for each candidate for Member of the Seimas in the single-member constituency;
6) the number of votes cast for each list of candidates in that part of the multi-member constituency which this single-member constituency constitutes;
7) the number of preference votes cast for each candidate in that part of the multi-member constituency which this single-member constituency constitutes.
2. The chairman and the members of the constituency electoral committee shall sign the vote counting record of the constituency only after considering separate opinions of the members of the polling district electoral committees, remarks of the election observers and complaints of the voters. An extract or a copy of the vote counting record of the constituency shall be presented to the election observers and the electoral committee members at their request. The constituency electoral committee may recommend the Central Electoral Commission to declare the election in the constituency invalid.
3. The vote counting record of the single-member constituency of Lithuanians worldwide shall be signed by the Central Electoral Commission. The Central Electoral Commission, having considered separate opinions of the members of the electoral committees, remarks of the election observers and complaints of the voters, may recognise the election in this constituency invalid.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ESTABLISHMENT AND PROCLAMATION OF ELECTION RESULTS
Article 88. Establishment of election results in single-member constituencies
1. The election results shall be established by the Central Electoral Commission after having investigated all complaints and established all election results in this constituency, including of the votes cast by the voters who have voted aboard the ships and abroad.
2. A candidate shall be considered elected in a single-member constituency, if not less than 40 percent of the voters from the electoral roll of that constituency have participated in the election, and the said candidate has received more than half of votes cast by the voters who have participated in the election. If less than 40 percent of the voters from the electoral roll of that constituency have participated in the election, the candidate who have received the majority, but not less than one-fifth of the votes of all the voters from the electoral roll of that constituency, shall be considered to have been elected.
3. If more than two candidates have participated in the election and a Member of the Seimas has not been elected pursuant to paragraph 2 of this Article, a run-off voting shall be held after two weeks, in which two candidates who have received the majority of votes will participate in the said voting. The date of a run-off voting shall be announced by the Central Electoral Commission together with the election results. A candidate who has received more votes, regardless of the number of voters who participated in the election, shall be considered to have been elected at the run-off voting. In the event of a tie, a candidate who received more votes during the initial poll shall be elected Member of the Seimas. If both candidates received an equal amount of votes during the initial poll, a candidate shall become Member of the Seimas by drawing lots.
4. If one or two candidates participated in the election and a Member of the Seimas has not been elected pursuant to paragraph 2 of this Article, the election shall be considered to have failed and a rerun election shall be held.
Article 89. Establishment of election results in the multi-member constituency
1. The election shall be considered to have been held in the multi-member constituency if more than one fourth of all voters have participated in them.
2. The list candidates of the party may receive mandates of Member of the Seimas (takes part in the distribution of mandates) only if not less than five percent of the voters participating in the election voted for it. The joint list of candidates, drawn up in accordance with Article 43 of this Law, or the list equalled to the joint list of candidates may receive mandates of Member of the Seimas (takes part in the distribution of mandates) provided that not less than seven percent of the voters who participated in the election have voted for it. If less than 60 percent of all voters who participated in the election have voted for the lists taking part in the distribution of mandates, the list (lists if an equal amount of votes has been cast for them) which has not taken part in the distribution of mandates up till then, for whom the majority of voters have voted shall acquire the right to take part in the distribution of mandates. Thus, the number of lists of candidates which have the right to participate in the distribution of mandates shall be further increased in the same manner until not less than 60 percent of all the voters who participated in the election shall have voted for the lists of candidates participating in the distribution of mandates.
3. Mandates for the lists of candidates shall be distributed according to the number of votes received by each of them, applying the method of quotas and remainders.
4. At first, the quota shall be counted, that is, how many votes are needed to receive 1 mandate. It shall be equal to the sum of votes cast by voters for the lists participating in the vote distribution, divided by 70. If a remainder is received when dividing, 1 shall be added to the quotient.
5. The amount of votes cast for each list shall be divided by the quota. The received integer quotient shall be the number of mandates for each list according to the quota and the remainders of this division shall be used to distribute the remaining mandates according to the remainders. Therefore, all names of the lists shall be written down in succession in which the first follows the last, according to the size of the remainders of the dividing received by the lists, beginning with the largest. If the remainders of two lists are equal, the first written down shall be the list which have received more votes cast by voters and if these numbers are also equal, the first written down shall be the list which has received more mandates in all single-member constituencies. If the number of mandates is also equal, the first written down shall be the list which possess the smaller election number. The mandates which have not been distributed when distributing by the method of quotas shall be distributed by one to the lists in succession, beginning with the list which has been written down first.
6. If one of the lists received the larger number of mandates than there were candidates on the list, these mandates would be distributed to other lists, further continuing the dividing thereof by the method of remainders.
7. Candidates of the same list shall receive mandates in the numerical order established by the Central Electoral Commission that has identified the rating of candidates. Those candidates who are elected in the single-member constituencies shall be omitted from the list.
8. If the party, coalition submits together with the application documents the request that the rating of their candidates should not be established, voters shall be notified about this in advance, indicating this in a ballot paper and the rating of candidates shall not be counted, and the registered sequence of candidates on the list shall be considered final.
Article 90. Counting of the rating of candidates for Members of the Seimas and establishment of the final order of succession of the lists
1. The Central Electoral Commission shall calculate the rating of candidates for Members of the Seimas and shall approve the final order of succession of the lists of candidates in accordance with the will expressed by voters and preference votes cast.
2. At first preference votes cast for each candidate in single-member constituencies shall be summed up and the sum total of all the preference votes for each candidate shall be calculated. In the event where the sum total of the candidate’s preference votes is bigger than the number of Members of the Seimas who are being elected in the multi-member constituency or such sum is equal to the said number, ranking points of the candidate shall be equal to that sum; if it is smaller - ranking points of the candidate shall be considered to be equal to zero.
3. The final order of succession of candidates for Members of the Seimas on the lists shall be established according the ranking points received by each candidate. The first written down in the order of succession shall be the candidate who have received more ranking points. In the event that several candidates receive the equal amount of the ranking points, then the first written down shall be the candidate was entered first on the election list.
4. The final order of succession of the lists of candidates for Members of the Seimas shall be announced by the Central Electoral Commission on the same day as the voting results in the single-member constituencies.
Article 91. Declaration of an election invalid
1. If a party or a candidate grossly violated Article 51(1) of this Law and such violation has been established or committed later, or the Central Electoral Commission has taken a decision later as laid down in Article 39(6) of this Law, the Central Electoral Commission shall take a decision on the revocation of the list of candidates or cancellation of the registration of the candidate after polling day, but not later than until the proclamation of the final election results. After the revocation of the announcement of the list of candidates, the votes cast for the list of candidates, and, after the cancellation of the candidate’s registration, the election ranking votes cast for the candidate or votes cast for the candidate for Member of the Seimas shall be deemed invalid. After the votes are deemed invalid, it shall be decided to declare the election invalid in accordance with the procedure provided for in this Article.
2. The Central Electoral Commission may declare the election results in the constituency invalid, if it has established that gross violation of Article 51(1) of this Law or other laws which were committed in the constituency or polling district, or that the falsification of documents or the loss thereof has had an essential influence on the election results, and the following essential results cannot be determined from the vote counting records or other election documents:
1) in a single-member constituency - the candidate who gets a mandate or the candidates who participate in a run-off voting;
2) in the multi-member constituency - the list of candidates which take part in the distribution of mandates, or the number of mandates due to the list of candidates can be determined at the exactness of only more than one mandate.
3. An election may not be declared invalid if the indisputably determined election results allow determining the essential results of the election.
Article 92. Rerun election
1. A rerun election shall be held in the constituencies in which the election failed or were declared invalid.
2. A rerun election shall be held not later than within half a year, and after the rerun election has failed, not later than within a year.
3. The concrete procedure for conducting a run-off voting, holding a rerun election to the Seimas according to the requirements and terms set out in this Law shall be established by the Central Electoral Commission taking into consideration the fact that a rerun election is held, the run-off voting is conducted in one of the single-member constituencies. When establishing the procedure for holding a rerun election, the Central Electoral Commission cannot change the boundaries of the constituencies. The citizens, permanently residing on the territory of a constituency who are aged 18 or over on the day of a rerun election shall be additionally entered on the electoral roll of this constituency, and only the persons who have lost the right to vote shall be removed from the electoral roll. The voting shall not be conducted abroad, aboard the ships (with the exception of the case when the voters residing abroad or the crews of the ships are entered on the electoral rolls of the constituency in which a rerun election is held).
4. A rerun election shall not be held if the rerun election date planned to be announced falls within the period when less than a year remains before the date of the next election to the Seimas, as counted in compliance with the Constitution.
Article 93. Establishment of final election results and proclamation thereof
1. The Central Electoral Commission shall establish the final election results after it has examined all complaints and established all election results in the constituency, including of the voters who have voted aboard the ships and abroad. A decision of the Central Electoral Commission taken on the grounds laid down in Article 91(1) of this Law shall also be considered as the establishment of the final election results in the constituency.
2. The Central Electoral Commission shall proclaim the final election results not later than within seven days following the polls in the multi-candidate constituency and in the first election round in one-member constituencies. If during the election to a new Seimas a run-off voting is conducted, the final results in the multi-member constituency and in those singe-candidate constituencies where the run-off voting has been conducted shall be proclaimed not later than within seven days from the run-off voting. The Central Electoral Commission shall publish the final election results on its website.
3. The Central Electoral Commission shall, not later than within four months from the proclamation of the final election results, transfer the vote counting records of the polling districts and the constituencies, application documents (except the forms for the collection of voter signatures), minutes of the meetings and the decisions of the Central Electoral Commission, as well as the collection of samples of the election documents to the State Archives for unlimited safekeeping. After that the Central Electoral Commission may decide to destroy the election documents which are not subject to safekeeping.
Article 931. Cessation of powers of a municipal councillor, a municipal councillor mayor or a member of the European Parliament before the expiry thereof
1. A person acting in the capacity of municipal councillor, municipal councillor mayor or member of the European Parliament who is elected a Member of the Seimas or becomes a Member of the Seimas through filling a vacancy shall lose the mandate of municipal councillor, municipal councillor mayor or member of the European Parliament.
2. The Central Electoral Commission shall, within 15 days from the occurrence of the grounds defined in paragraph 1 of this Article, recognise the powers of municipal councillor, municipal councillor mayor or member of the European Parliament as having been ceased before the expiry thereof.
Article 94. Certificate of Member of the Seimas
1. After the declaration of the election results, the Central Electoral Commission shall issue certificates of Member of the Seimas to the elected candidates within three days.
2. All disputes concerning the non-issuance of the certificate of Member of the Seimas shall, not later than within three days, be settled by the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania whose decision becomes effective from the moment of its pronouncement.
Article 95. Inquiry concerning violation of the Law on Elections to the Seimas
1. The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania as well as the President of the Republic may, not later than within three days of the proclamation of the final election results in a specific constituency or the official announcement of the decision of the Central Electoral Commission concerning the occurring or filling a vacancy in the Seimas, appeal to the Constitutional Court with the inquiry whether or not the Law on Elections to the Seimas has been violated when organising and holding an election in that constituency.
2. The Constitutional Court shall investigate and evaluate the decision of the Central Electoral Committee or its refusal to investigate complaints about violation of the Law on Elections to the Seimas in those cases when the decisions have been adopted or another deed of the Commission has been performed after the close of the poll.
3. Such inquiry shall be investigated by the Constitutional Court not later than within 120 hours of its submission to the Constitutional Court. The said time limit shall also include non-work days.
4. Basing itself on the conclusions of the Constitutional Court, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania shall take a final decision concerning violation of the Law on Elections to the Seimas.
5. If the Constitutional Court makes a conclusion that the Law on Elections to the Seimas has been grossly violated or the election documents have been falsified and this has had an essential influence on the establishment of the election results, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania may pass one of the following resolutions:
1) to declare the election in the single-member constituency or the multi-member constituency invalid when it is impossible to establish essential election results from the vote counting records; or
2) to establish real essential election results according to the vote counting records or other election documents submitted by electoral committees.
6. The Seimas shall also pass a resolution on legally and illegally elected Members of the Seimas.
Article 96. Recognition of the lapse of the powers of Seimas Member
The Central Electoral Commission shall recognise the lapse of the powers of Member of the Seimas, with the exception of the cases provided for in Article 95(6) of this Law, not later than within 15 days after the occurrence of a cause for it:
1) upon the death of a Member of the Seimas - according to the data of the Residents’ Register of the Republic of Lithuania;
2) upon the resignation of a Member of the Seimas - according to the resignation statement written by the Member of the Seimas himself. The Member of the Seimas must repeat this statement himself during a meeting of the Central Electoral Commission. If because of the heath condition the Member of the Seimas is unable to attend the meeting, the meeting shall be held in the place where the Seimas member is at that time;
3) when the court declares a Member of the Seimas legally incompetent - according to the effective decision of the court;
4) when the Seimas revokes the mandate of Member of the Seimas in accordance with impeachment proceedings - according to the effective resolution of the Seimas;
5) if a Member of the Seimas takes up, or does not resign from, employment which is incompatible with the duties of Seimas member - according to the effective resolution of the Seimas;
6) if a Member of the Seimas loses citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania - according to the effective legal act concerning the loss of citizenship; and
7) if a Member of the Seimas does not take an oath in the manner prescribed by law or takes a conditional oath - according to the effective resolution of the Seimas.
Article 97. Filling a vacancy in the Seimas
Upon the recognition of the lapse of the powers of Member of the Seimas, a seat shall fall vacant in the Seimas. It shall be filled in the following manner:
1) if the former Member of the Seimas was elected in a single-member constituency, a by-election shall be organised in this constituency. A by-election must be held not later than within six months. An election shall not be held if the election date planned to be announced falls within the period when less than a year remains before the date of the next election to the Seimas, as counted in compliance with the Constitution. The Central Electoral Commission shall establish the concrete procedure for holding a by-election according to the requirements and terms established by this Law, taking into consideration the fact that a by-election is held in one of the single-member constituencies. When establishing the procedure for holding a by-election, the Central Electoral Commission cannot change the boundaries of a constituency. The citizens who permanently reside on the territory of a certain constituency or who have settled in a certain constituency and have declared the place of residence in this constituency according to the procedure laid down by the Law on Declaration of the Place of Residence and who are aged 18 or over on the day of a by-election shall be additionally entered on the electoral roll of this constituency. The persons who have lost the right to vote as well as the citizens who have declared the place of residence not in territory of this constituency shall be removed from the electoral roll. The voting shall not be conducted abroad or aboard the ships (with the exception of the case when the voters residing abroad or the crews of ships are entered on the electoral rolls of the constituency in which a by-election is to be held);
2) in the multi-member constituency the first candidate, who has not received the mandate of Member of the Seimas, from the list of candidates according to which the former Member of the Seimas was elected to the presently vacant seat becomes a Member of the Seimas. If there are no candidates on this list of candidates who have not received the mandates of Member of the Seimas, the mandate of Member of the Seimas shall be transferred to another list according to the sequence of the lists of candidates which was established after the election for the distribution of mandates by the method of remainders, that is to the list following the list which was the last to receive the mandate according to this sequence. Therefore, the first candidate, who has not received the mandate, on the list which has newly received a mandate shall become a Member of the Seimas. The Central Electoral Commission must adopt the decision concerning recognition of the mandate of Member of the Seimas for a new Member of the Seimas not later than within seven days after a seat falls vacant in the Seimas.
Article 98. Loss of the mandate of Member of the Seimas because of the collaboration with the special services of other states and the conviction imposed by a court judgment have not been disclosed to the voters
1. Each candidate for Member of the Seimas must make a public disclosure of his deliberate collaboration with the special services of other states, provided that he was not thereby carrying out the assignments of the Republic of Lithuania. He shall indicate this fact in the questionnaire for a candidate for Member of the Seimas. An election poster of a candidate for Member of the Seimas, issued by the Central Electoral Commission, as well as a poster with the list of candidates must contain the following notice beside the name of the candidate: “Has deliberately and not on the instruction of the Republic of Lithuania collaborated with the special services of another state”.
2. If a candidate fails to indicate this and there is a valid court sentence which has established a fact having juridical meaning (or this fact has been confirmed by the candidate himself in the manner prescribed by law) that he with full awareness collaborated with the special services of other states which was not related to carrying out the assignments of the Republic of Lithuania, the Central Electoral Commission shall not register him; where it has already registered him a candidate for Member of the Seimas, the Central Electoral Commission shall immediately cancel his registration as a candidate for Member of the Seimas. If the candidate has not indicated it and after the election to the Seimas his deliberate collaboration with the special services of other states which was not related to carrying out the assignments of the Republic of Lithuania is proved according to the procedure established by law, his powers of Member of the Seimas shall be terminated from that day.
3. Each candidate for Member of the Seimas must make a public disclosure that under the judgment imposed by a court of the Republic of Lithuania, which became effective after 11 March 1990, he was found guilty of committing a criminal act or under the effective court judgment was found guilty of committing a serious or a grave crime at any time. He shall indicate this fact in the questionnaire for a candidate for Member of the Seimas, regardless of the fact whether the conviction has expired or has been expunged. When submitting this data, a person must indicate in the questionnaire of a candidate for Member of the Seimas the country (location) where the judgment of conviction (decision) was issued, the name of the authority which issued the judgment of conviction (decision), the date when the judgment of conviction (decision) was issued and the criminal act for which he was convicted. It shall not be obligatory to indicate such information if the person concerned was found guilty of a crime against the State by a court of the occupation regime. When submitting the information referred to in this paragraph, it shall also be stated in the questionnaire of a candidate for Member of the Seimas that the person was convicted by a court judgment of a criminal act that was later decriminalised or that the person has been found guilty by a foreign state court of committing an act which, under the law of the Republic of Lithuanian, is not considered as a criminal act or initiation of criminal proceedings for such an act is regarded as political persecution. An election poster of a candidate for Member of the Seimas, issued by the Central Electoral Commission, as well as a poster with the list of candidates must contain the following notice beside the name of the candidate: ‘Under a court judgment found guilty of committing a criminal act’ and must not contain the notice if the candidate for Seimas member has provided in the questionnaire data that he was found guilty of a crime against the State by a court of the occupation regime or has provided reasonable evidence that he was convicted by a court of a criminal act that was later decriminalised or if the person has been found guilty by a foreign state court of committing an act which, under the law of the Republic of Lithuania, is not considered as a criminal act or initiation of criminal proceedings for such an act is regarded as political persecution.
4. If a candidate has not indicated this fact and there is the judgment of a court of the Republic of Lithuania which came into effect after 11 March 1990 and which found the person guilty of committing a criminal act or there is a court judgment which found the person guilty for committing a serious or a grave crime at any time (except the case where the person was found guilty of a crime against the State by a court of the occupation regime), the Central Electoral Commission shall not register such person as a candidate for Member of the Seimas, and if the Committee has already registered him, it shall immediately cancel his registration as a candidate for Member of the Seimas. If the candidate failed to disclose this fact and, following the election to the Seimas, it has been established that there is the judgment of a court of the Republic of Lithuania effective after 11 March 1990 which found the person guilty of committing a criminal act or there is the court judgment which found the person guilty of committing a serious or a grave crime at any time, the Central Electoral Commission shall, within 15 days, forward copies of the court judgment and the questionnaire of a candidate for Member of the Seimas to the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania for the Seimas to take a decision to initiate impeachment proceedings.
PRESIDENT OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL
OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS
Vilnius, 9 July 1992
No I-2721