REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA LAW
ON ELECTIONS TO THE SEIMAS
(As last amended on 13 December 2018 – No XIII-1775)
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1. Principles of the election of Seimas members
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.
The Law shall be supplemented with Article 11 as of 1 July 2020:
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 declaration of the election results invalid, except in order to implement a ruling of the Constitutional Court.
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 found legally incapable by the court shall not participate in elections.
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 Seimas member. 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 found legally incapable and legally incapacitated 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 mandatory 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 Seimas member has been cancelled by the Seimas in accordance with impeachment proceedings may not be elected as Seimas member, provided that less than four years have elapsed from the entry into force of the decision to remove from office or to cancel the mandate of Seimas member.
Note in the Register of Legal Acts: To declare that the provision of Article 2(5) of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Elections to the Seimas (the version of 22 March 2012; Official Gazette No 42-2042 of 2012) ‘provided that less than four years have elapsed from the entry into force of the decision to remove from office or to cancel the mandate of Seimas member’ is in violation of Articles 5(1) and (2), Article 6(1), Article 7(1), Article 34(2), Article 59(2) and (3), Article 74, Article 82(1), Article 104(2), Article 107(1) and (2) and Article 112(6) of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, Article 5 of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Procedure for the Enforcement of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and the constitutional principle of a State under the rule of law.
To declare that Article 2(5) of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Elections to the Seimas (the version of 22 March 2012; Official Gazette No 42-2042 of 2012) is in violation of Articles 5(1) and (2), Article 6(1), Article 7(1), Article 34(2), Article 56(2), Article 74, Article 107(1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and the constitutional principle of a State under the rule of law to the extent it establishes that a person who has been removed from office or his mandate of Seimas member has been cancelled by the Seimas in accordance with impeachment proceedings for the commitment of a crime by which the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania has not been seriously infringed or the oath has been breached .
Ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania
5 September 2012, Official Gazette No 105-5330 of 2012 (8 September 2012)
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 the 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 elections
There shall be no voting through intermediaries in an election to the Seimas.
Version of Article 5 until 30 June 2019:
Article 5. Secret ballot
1. Voters shall vote in person and by secret ballot. Voting for another person or proxy voting hall be prohibited. A voter, who is unable to vote because of his physical disability, may vote with the assistance of another person whom he trusts, as it is provided for in Article 66(6) of this Law. If someone gets to know the secrecy of another person’s voting, it shall be prohibited to divulge it.
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 mark 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.
Version of Article 5 as of 1 July 2019:
Article 5. Secret ballot
1. Voters shall vote in person and by secret ballot. A voter shall be prohibited from voting for another person or from assigning another person to vote for him.
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 mark 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 voting 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 the 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 the period of election campaign as set out by this Law as well as 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 candidates, 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 for or who intends to declare himself to be a candidate for Seimas member 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 Seimas members on the second Sunday of 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 Seimas members. If, with four months remaining before the expiry of the powers of the Seimas members, 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 Seimas members, 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 when ballot papers are cast in the multi-member constituency and in the first election round of single-member constituencies shall be considered the day of an election to the new Seimas. The day of run-off voting shall also be considered a polling day. Postal voting and voting in other ways provided for by law shall be carried out before polling day or finished on polling day as it is established in 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.
Article 7. Openness of preparation and conduct of an election
1. A public notice about a forthcoming meeting of an electoral committee shall be put on the notice board placed in the premises where the electoral committee has its office, and the members of this electoral committee shall be personally notified about the forthcoming meeting 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’), candidates for Seimas members upon producing the certificates of the set form or credentials approved with the seal of the organisations which have authorised them; representatives of the media upon producing their service cards or employment certificates. A candidate for Seimas member 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 adopted or if he has been invited to participate in a 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 premises 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.
Version of Article 8 until 30 June 2019:
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. The expenditure of electoral committees related to the organisation and conduct of an election shall be covered and the work of members of the electoral committees and the service staff thereof as well as the voting committees shall be paid from the state budget. Maintenance of the office space of voting committees, constituency electoral committees and polling district electoral committees, expenditure of purchasing and keeping of the equipment of polling stations shall be covered from municipal budgets. The 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 covered from the state and municipal budgets. If a municipality fails to provide adequate premises and equipment for the office of a polling district and the polling stations, funds of the state budget shall be used for this purpose by a decision of the Central Electoral Commission. In this case, the actual expenses on polling stations and the equipment shall be recovered without suit by the Central Electoral Commission from the municipality within two months after the election.
Version of Article 8 as of 1 July 2019:
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. The expenditure of electoral committees related to the organisation and conduct of an election shall be covered and the work of members of the electoral committees and the service staff thereof as well as the voting committees shall be remunerated from the state budget. Maintenance of the office space of voting committees, municipal electoral committees and polling district electoral committees, the acquisition and keeping of the equipment, the setting-up of the 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. The 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 this case, the actual expenses on polling stations and the equipment shall be recovered without suit by the Central Electoral Commission from the municipality within two months after the election.
Article 9. Formation of Constituencies
1. For the organisation and conduct of an election, the territory of the Republic of Lithuania shall be divided into 71 single-member constituencies, taking into consideration the number of inhabitants in the constituency, the division of the territory of the Republic of Lithuania into single-member constituencies during the previous elections to the Seimas, and the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Lithuania. 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 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 to the Seimas and voted at diplomatic missions and consular posts of Lithuania.
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.
4. When 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.
Article 11. Electoral committees
1. An election to the Seimas shall be organised and conducted by:
2. A Republic of Lithuania citizen of good repute may be proposed to an electoral committee provided he is eligible to stand in election as a Seimas member (without taking into consideration the minimum age limit set for a candidate for Seimas member, 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, or has not been certified by the constituency electoral committee or the Central Electoral Commission because of the improper performance of his duties.
3. The same person may not concurrently be: a member of the electoral committee and a candidate for Seimas member; a candidate for Seimas member and an election representative; an election representative and a member of the electoral committee; a candidate for Seimas member and an election observer; a member of the electoral committee and an election observer. If a member of the electoral committee seeks to stand in election as a Seimas member, at least 10 days in advance of giving his consent to stand for election as a Seimas member 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 be not registered as a candidate for Seimas member 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 court judgment, 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;
Article 15. Formation of constituency electoral committees
1. The Central Electoral Commission shall, for the period of an election, form constituency electoral committees not later than 85 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
3. The Minister of Justice, the Lawyers’ Association of Lithuania 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 Seimas member in the multi-member constituency according to the list (joint list) of candidates shall have the right to propose one representative to each constituency electoral committee according to one such list (joint list) of candidates 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 there are less than three persons, the committee shall be enlarged from the persons proposed by the Minister of Justice, the Lithuanian Lawyers’ Association or the director of the municipal administration.
6. If an election to the Seimas or a presidential elections, 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 define its functions in organising and conducting other elections or referendum.
7. 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.
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;
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;
7) make a list of healthcare (except for outpatient) institutions, social care and guardianship institutions, military units, arrest houses, remand prisons (detention facilities) and penal institutions situated in the territory of the constituency, and together with the head of the post office have care of the organisation of voting by post in those places, as well as organise early voting;
9) during the election campaign carry out the monitoring of political advertising within the territory of the municipality and submit such data to the Central Electoral Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down by it;
10) investigate complaints against decisions and actions of the polling district electoral committees and take decisions, repeal decisions which are not in compliance with the requirements of laws and other legal acts; and
Article 17. Formation of polling district electoral committees
1. No later than 65 days before an election, the 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. If the number of proposed candidates is insufficient or there is a vacancy in the committee, the director of the administration of the municipality locating the polling district may propose the lacking candidates.
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 which received the mandates of Seimas member in the multi-member constituency during the last election to the Seimas. If a party received mandates of Seimas member while in the coalition, it may propose candidates together with the parties which 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 locating the polling district received the mandates of members of this council according to the list (joint list) of nominated candidates. 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 which took part in the election coalition fails to propose candidates or refuses to nominate 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 proposed or the proposed candidates do not meet the requirements of this Law, or they have been nominated after the set time limit, constituency electoral committees may decrease the earlier fixed number of members of a polling district committee or address the director of the municipal administration to propose the lacking number of candidates for the polling district electoral committee. Candidates proposed by the director of the municipal administration may not be members of the parties or become such prior to the expiration of the powers of the electoral committee member. If during a meeting of a constituency electoral committee, in which a member of the polling district electoral committee proposed by the director of the municipal administration is appointed, not less than three members of the constituency electoral committee object to the appointment of the candidate proposed by the director of the municipal administration, this candidate may not be appointed a member of the committee. A polling district electoral committee must comprise at least five members.
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.
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, hand poll cards to voters or deliver them in some other manner, 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;
3) in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, supervise the course of voting by post in the territory of the polling district and monitor the provision of opportunities for voting by post in all healthcare (except for outpatient) institutions, social care and guardianship institutions, military units, arrest houses, remand prisons (detention facilities) and penitentiary institutions situated within the territory of the polling district as well as organise voting at home;
4) together with a representative of the municipal administration, take care of the arrangement of polling stations, polling booths and ballot boxes in due time pursuant to the requirements laid down in this Law;
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) investigate 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
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, (name, 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.’;
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 which have appointed them.
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 which 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 the manner established 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 Seimas member, a candidate for Seimas member, an election representative, an election observer may appeal against a decision of the electoral committee taken before the close of poll or against any other act of the committee to:
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 poll. The complaint must be investigated not later than within 48 hours from the lodging thereof. This time limit shall also include non-work days. A decision of the court shall become effective upon its pronouncement.
4. Complaints lodged not in compliance with the procedure established in this Article shall not be investigated and shall be referred to the electoral committee, which must investigate them. A polling district electoral committee, a constituency electoral committee may not forward to the Central Electoral Commission the complaints the investigation of which fall within their respective competence but which have not been investigated.
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 three days, consider requests submitted to them by electoral committees and give the electoral committees reasoned replies.
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.
Version of paragraph 4 until 30 June 2019:
4. State and municipal institutions and agencies, their officers and staff, enterprises and their employees must provide the electoral committees with suitable premises, equipment, computer hardware and Internet access in order to prepare and conduct an election. The suitability of polling stations provided for an election and the arrangement thereof for the needs of voters with reduced mobility and/or vision impairment as well as for elderly voters must be assessed by the municipal institutions responsible for the adaptation of public buildings to the special needs.
Version of paragraph 4 valid as of 1 July 2019:
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 the electoral committees together with the municipal administration not later than two months before an election. Non-governmental organisations may be involved in the assessment of the suitability of polling stations. The suitability of 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;
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;
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 estimates of constituency electoral committees 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.
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 – 0.31 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 – 0.25 of the base amount of the basic salary;
3) for the chairmen of the polling district electoral committees – 0.25 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 % 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 which approved the composition of the said committee, or the Central Electoral Commission.
2. The 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.
Article 25. Electoral rolls
1. In order to organise and conduct an election the following electoral rolls shall be compiled:
2. Electoral rolls shall be compiled twice – preliminary and final. These electoral rolls may be used only for organisation and conduct of an election.
3. The procedure for compiling 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.
5. The electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania and electoral rolls of the single-member constituencies shall be compiled 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, form, method of compiling electoral rolls and the procedure of their use shall be laid down by the Central Electoral Commission. When compiling electoral rolls, the following personal data shall be used:
1) on the electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania - the name, surname, personal number, date of birth, number of the document confirming citizenship, home address and grounds for entering the address in the Residents’ Register;
2) on the single-member constituency electoral rolls: the name, 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 name, surname and home address. The home address of the voters, who have expressed disagreement that their home address would be announced on the electoral roll of a polling district, shall be indicated only in the annex to the electoral roll of the polling district and in the poll card.
6. Every voter shall have the right to express disagreement about his home address appearing on a polling district electoral roll. The Central Electoral Commission shall, together with the administrator of the Residents’ Register, take the necessary measures to enable a voter to exercise his right to express disagreement about his home address being made public on a polling district electoral roll.
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. Electoral rolls compiled according to the data of the Residents’ Register of the Republic of Lithuania shall be preliminary.
2. Compiling, 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:
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 stored and used pursuant to the time limits and the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission.
Article 27. Single-member constituency electoral rolls
The electoral roll of a constituency in the magnetic media shall be compiled by the Central Electoral Commission according to the electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania and the home address of a voter 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 compiled and delivered to diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania. A list of citizens whose exact home address is unknown shall also be compiled.
Article 28. Electoral rolls of polling districts
The electoral roll of a polling district shall be compiled 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 list of citizens whose exact home address is unknown shall also be compiled. Voters, ship crew members and passengers who are unable to return to Lithuania during the period of voting by post 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 shall, not less than 25 days prior to an election, provide conditions for voters to have access to the polling district electoral roll. 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 an electoral committee indicating duty hours of the committee members and telephone numbers at which the voters may check whether their names have been entered on the electoral roll. Upon the expiry of the time limit for delivering poll cards 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 exercising this right of voters shall be on display at a diplomatic mission, at the entrance to the premises of an electoral committee.
Article 30. Poll card
1. A poll card shall be a document giving information about an election to a voter, a nominal invitation to participate in an election. Poll cards together with other information about an election shall be delivered to voters or such delivery shall be organised by electoral committees. A voter himself, or at his request – any other person, may print or write out his poll card 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) in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission. In this event, a voter himself shall sign his poll card, except for the cases when he cannot sign it himself because of his disability and the poll card is signed by another person ,chosen by the voter, indicating his name, surname and personal number. The electoral committees shall distribute poll card forms which may be filled out by a voter himself. A poll card shall be mandatory only in the cases where a voter votes not on polling day at a place other than a polling district.
2. A poll card shall specify:
3) 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;
4) the name and number of the single-member constituency to the territory whereof the polling district is assigned;
Article 31. Delivery of poll cards
2. Articles 70, 71, 72 and 73 of this Law shall lay down the procedure for delivering poll cards to voters in healthcare (except for outpatient) institutions, social care institutions, military units, arrest houses, remand prisons (detention facilities) and penitentiary institutions, and to voters who have gone abroad.
3. The delivery of a poll card shall be noted in the preliminary electoral roll of a polling district. A poll card shall be handed to a voter eligible to vote at home either personally or to any other person residing with the voter. If it is impossible to deliver a poll card because a voter or any other person residing together with the voter is not at home, the poll card shall be returned to the polling district electoral committee, this fact shall be noted in the preliminary electoral roll and a general invitation to arrive to vote shall be left for the voter. This invitation may be put into a mailbox or handed to the voter’s neighbour who knows the voter and undertakes to give it to the voter. Delivery of poll cards to voters must be finished at least eight days before an election. If a presidential election, or an election to the European Parliament, or an election to municipal councils, or a referendum, or a run-off voting are scheduled for the same date as an election to the Seimas, only one poll card shall be handed.
4. A voter who has not received a poll card in due time or who has received a poll card with incorrect data must forthwith inform the polling district electoral committee in the territory of which he resides and to present to the electoral committee his passport or another document confirming his identity. If the voter has been entered on the electoral roll of this polling district, the polling district electoral committee must write out a new poll card to the voter and issue it immediately. If the voter has not been entered on the electoral roll of this polling district, but the voter’s home address according to the data of the Residents’ Register is assigned to the territory of this polling district or the voter produces other evidences that he resides within the territory of this polling district, the polling district electoral committee shall provide a request blank the form of which is prescribed by the Central Electoral Commission, and which must be filled out by the voter for entering him on the electoral roll of this polling district (or a member of the polling district electoral committee shall himself fill out this request; this request may be filed by the voter electronically in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission) and shall immediately inform the constituency electoral committee about this, which must have care of entering, in compliance with the above-mentioned request, the voter on the electoral roll of this polling district. A poll card shall be written out and delivered to the voter after the electoral rolls have been updated.
Article 32. Updating of electoral rolls before compiling 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 said electoral roll was compiled.
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 in the territory whereof the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania is situated.
2. 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 compiled at the diplomatic mission, as well as a report about its updating. Added to this list may be the voters who, during the period of voting by post or on polling day are not able to return to Lithuania and are voting at the diplomatic mission.
Article 34. Entering on electoral rolls of voters who are in military units, aboard the ships, arrest houses, remand prisons (detention facilities) and penitentiary institutions
1. Voters performing the mandatory military service shall be entered on the electoral roll of the polling district on the territory of which they permanently resided before they have been called up for the mandatory military service.
2. Voters performing the active military service, civil service or working under employment contracts in international military operations abroad shall be entered on the electoral rolls of the polling district where they have declared their place of residence.
3. The voters who are aboard a ship and who cannot return to Lithuania during the period of voting by post or to be present on polling day shall be entered on the additional electoral roll of the polling district on whose electoral roll the ship’s crew is entered.
4. Voters who are in arrest houses, remand prisons (detention facilities) or penitentiary institutions shall be entered on the electoral rolls of the polling district where they have declared the place of residence. If such a person has not declared a place of residence and upon his written request, he shall be entered on the electoral roll of the polling district in the territory of which the penal institution, arrest house or remand prison (detention facility) is situated. A person who declared his place of residence before he has been placed in an arrest house, remand prison (detention facilities) or penal institution may not be entered on the electoral roll of the polling district on the territory of which the arrest house, remand prison (detention facilities) or penal institution is situated.
Article 35. Updating of electoral rolls after having compiled final electoral rolls and on polling day
1. If following the approval of the final electoral rolls, but no later than until 6pm on polling day, a voter who has not been entered on the electoral roll of the polling district applies to the electoral committee of the polling district and submits the passport of the citizen of the Republic of Lithuania with the home address indicated there, or the passport or the identity card and a document with regard to his declared home address (the place of residence must be attached to the territory of this polling district), the polling district electoral committee shall enter the voter on the additional electoral roll of the polling district, allow him to vote according to the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission and immediately notify the voter’s surname, name, personal number, number of his passport or identity card, and 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 marked by him will be counted only once. If the voter has voted twice, only the vote which was put in the ballot box of the polling district shall be counted. The other vote of the voter, received by post or when cast according to the additional electoral roll of the polling district, shall not be counted.
2. On polling day a voter who has not yet voted 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 connected through means of electronic communication to the electronic electoral roll and the polling district electoral committees can 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 on the arrival of the said voter to vote at another polling district and the voter's vote, if received in a postal 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 the 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 investigate 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. A decision of a polling district electoral committee may be within three days appealed against to the appropriate regional administrative court, which investigates the complaint within two days. The decision of the court shall be final.
3. Comments and complaints shall not be investigated after the expiry of the term set for lodging comments or complaints.
4. 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.
Article 37. Nomination of candidates for Seimas member
1. Candidates for Seimas member may be nominated:
1) in the multi-member and single-member constituencies by a party whcih 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 Seimas member, may nominate himself for Seimas member, provided his candidature 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.
2. In the multi-member constituency a party shall nominate its candidates 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 (joint list) of candidates must not include less than 25 and more than 141 candidates.
3. A party may nominate a candidate and a person may declare himself to be a candidate only after they have been registered as a participant of political campaign 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 the nomination of candidates and forms for the collection of voter signatures
1. A party must file with the Central Electoral Commission the following application documents:
2) a copy of its registration documents; the programme and the election programme of the party may be submitted as well;
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 Seimas member, the consent to be nominated by this party in a specific constituency, a questionnaire for a candidate for Seimas member filled out 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 a declaration of private interests and the pledge of the form set by the Central Electoral Commission to comply with the prohibition to bribe voters. The party must submit photographs and autobiography of each candidate;
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 a 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 the funding of political campaign;
2. A person who decided to nominate himself for the candidate for Seimas member, must submit to the constituency electoral committee the following documents:
1) application concerning his nominating himself for the candidate for Seimas member 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 Seimas member, a questionnaire for a candidate for Seimas member 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 of the form set by the Central Electoral Commission to comply with the prohibition to bribe voters. He must submit his photographs, autobiography;
3) a document certifying that the person who decided to nominate himself for the candidate for Seimas member 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 Seimas member, a citizen who has nominated himself for the candidate or has been nominated as a candidate for Seimas member must fill in the following data himself: surname, name, number of the passport or the identity card, personal number, date of birth, home address, whether or not his court-imposed sentence has expired, 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. Other questions, additionally established by the Central Electoral Commission, may also be included in the questionnaire for a candidate for Seimas member to which the person is not bound to give answers. A candidate for Seimas member 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 Seimas member 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 filled-out individual forms for the collection of voter signatures, 85 days before polling day and shall end at 5pm 65 days before polling day. The documents filed after the expiry of the time limit for filing the application documents may not be recognised as the application documents.
5. Application documents may be submitted electronically. Voters may also, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, support electronically with their signatures a candidate who has nominated himself for the candidate for Seimas member.
6. The constituency electoral committee shall, within three days, issue a citizen who has decided to nominate himself for the candidate for Seimas member 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 for Seimas member shall either themselves collect voter signatures or charge other voters to perform the task. A person who 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 the form for the collection of voter signatures a citizen who supports the person’s self-nomination must himself fill out the following data: surname, name, 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 electoral committee, which issued them not later than 40 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 Seimas member. 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 Seimas member.
7. Voter signatures must be collected on an individual form for the collection of voter signatures which shall contain the following text:
‘I, voter, confirm my support for the person (person‘s name, 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, name |
Number of the voter’s identity card, passport |
Date of birth |
Home address |
Signature and Date’ |
Article 39. Registration of candidates for Seimas member
1. Upon the commencement of filing of the lists of candidates, at the request of the Central Electoral Commission the Ministry of Justice shall, within one day, confirm officially which parties have been registered, the number of members of which parties meets the requirements of the Law on Political Parties, and which parties have the legal status of the party in respect of which the liquidation has been initiated or the legal status of the party placed under liquidation.
2. Upon receiving the application documents of a party, the Central Electoral Commission must not later than the next working day apply to the Ministry of Justice regarding confirmation of the fact of the registration of the party and the validity of the submitted statutes. The Ministry of Justice must give a written reply within two days and present to the Central Electoral Commission a copy of the valid statutes.
3. While checking the application documents filled out by a candidate for Seimas member, the Central Electoral Commission shall determine whether the candidate meets the requirements of Article 2 of this Law. When necessary, it may appeal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice or other competent institutions of the Republic of Lithuania or 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.
4. Having checked out and established that all application documents specified in this Law are submitted, that they meet the requirements of this Law, that a party which has nominated a candidate or a person who has declared himself to be a candidate or a candidate nominated by a party in a single-member constituency has been registered as an independent participant of political campaign, 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.
5. 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 the appropriate election representative about such fact.
6. If following the registration of a candidate for Seimas member, 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(4) 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 participant of political campaign, the Central Electoral Commission shall cancel the registration of such candidate for Seimas member or revoke the announcement of the joint list of candidates of the appropriate political party or coalition of 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.
Article 40. Election representative
1. A party, a citizen who has nominated himself and has been registered as a candidate for Seimas member shall authorise an election representative to represent them on all issues in the Central Electoral Commission or the 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 the 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 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 the 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 after the lapse of 20 days following the proclamation of the final results of the election. The powers of an election representative in an appropriate electoral committee shall also lapse 20 days following 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 nominated himself as a candidate may revoke an authorisation at any time and authorise another person to be an election representative. In this case an 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.
Article 41. Election deposit
1. The election deposit for one candidate for Seimas member 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 Seimas member 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 furnish a copy of the report on the funding of the respective political campaign 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 parties, cancellation of the registration of a candidate or non-registration of a candidate for Seimas member on the grounds specified in Article 39(6) of this Law, the election deposit shall not be refunded.
5. Upon the expiry of the period of political campaign, the Central Electoral Commission shall, within 40 days, refund the election deposit to the party or the person who has furnished it, if:
1) the participant of the political campaign submitted within the time limit set out in the Law on Funding of Political Campaigns and Control of Funding thereof the report on the funding of the political campaign, 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;
6. If a participant of the political campaign submits to the Central Electoral Commission the report on the funding of the political campaign, 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.
Article 42. Prohibition for one person to be a candidate in several constituencies or on several lists of candidates
1. Each candidate for Seimas member 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 at the same time nominated as a candidate for Seimas member in one single-member constituency as well.
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 nominated himself) 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. Before the deadline for filing application documents, several parties may join the lists of candidates nominated by them. 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 which 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.
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 or who has nominated himself as 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 28 days before an election, declare their 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 Article 38(5) 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 which 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.
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 above-mentioned lists as well as the candidates nominated in single-member constituencies. The Central Electoral Commission shall hand over the certificates of candidates for Seimas member with the election numbers assigned to those candidates to the election representative. 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 until the proclamation of the lection results.
Article 46. Right of a candidate for Seimas member to speak at meetings, to use the media
1. After the Central Electoral Commission announces the names of candidates and lists of candidates, the candidates for Seimas member in constituencies shall have 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 force, 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 Seimas member or prevented a 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 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 Seimas member who performs the duties of the Seimas member or the President of the Republic. The procedure for releasing a candidate for Seimas member, 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 Seimas Member
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 Seimas member), a candidate for Seimas member 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 Seimas member who perform the duties of the Seimas member, 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.
Article 50. Basic principles of election campaigning
1. The provisions of this Law which regulate election campaigning shall apply after the announcement of the date of an election. Election campaign 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.
Article 51. Conditions and procedure of 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 free of charge. The rules for preparing programs intended for election campaigning shall be approved and the actual duration and time of the Lithuanian National Radio and Television programs shall be established 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 programs 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.
2. Debates of candidates over the radio and 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;
4. Groups of independent participants of a political campaign 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 lists of candidates and their election programmes shall be published by the Central Electoral Commission within 20 days after the submission thereof.
7. The election programmes of the candidates who stand for election in a single-member constituency shall be published by the electoral committee of that constituency not later than 15 days prior to an election. The procedure for publishing election programmes shall be established by the Central Electoral Commission.
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 set up 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 are 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;
6) without permission of the owner of the land, construction works or other structures on or in which it is displayed;
10. Outdoor political advertising in protected areas and immovable cultural properties, as well as in 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 setting up and communicating outdoor political advertising shall be held liable under law.
Article 52. Releasing the material compromising a candidate for Seimas Member and the candidate’s countering opinion
1. If, after the Central Electoral Commission announces the names of candidates and lists of candidates, the media release the material compromising a candidate for Seimas member (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 mass 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 any case a countering opinion shall not be made public during the period of time when election campaigning is prohibited. Making a 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 make public, the 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 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 any case a countering opinion shall not be made public during the period of time when election campaigning is prohibited. Making a 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 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 elections and on polling day until the close of 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.
Article 57. Establishment of sample election documents
The Central Electoral Commission shall establish specimens and forms of poll cards, 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 for voting by post, other documents, blanks, questionnaires, official envelopes, packets, seals used in an election, as well as the specimens for filling them out, when necessary.
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 marking 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 Seimas member 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 first name and name of each of the candidates for Seimas member, as well as the name of the party which has nominated him or it shall indicate ‘Nominated himself’.
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 name 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’ names 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 ballot papers and envelopes to central post offices at least two days prior to the opening of voting by post, and ballot papers to polling districts – not later than 12 hours preceding the opening of poll.
2. At the diplomatic missions of the Republic of Lithuania, voters must be provided with free access to ballot papers and postal 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.
Article 60. Preparation of Polling Stations
1. A polling station of a polling district must be completely prepared for an election not later than 12 hours before the opening of poll. An electoral committee must also have counted all the ballot papers received from a constituency electoral committee and drawn up their acceptance report by the prescribed time. In the polling station of a polling district there must be a ballot box, secret polling booth (booths) in which a voter could marki ballot papers in secret. 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 campaign 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 in which the polling station is situated. Working places for the electoral committee members and places for election observers must be also organised. The prepared polling station shall be closed, sealed, left under the police protection and the chairman of the polling district electoral committee shall inform the constituency electoral committee of this.
2. Other requirements for the arrangement of polling stations shall be established by the Central Electoral Commission.
3. The chairman of a polling district 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:
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;
3. Political parties, candidates for Seimas member, 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 them with the certificates:
1) the Central Electoral Commission - to observe an election within the entire territory of the Republic of Lithuania, in the diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania, constituencies, polling districts;
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.
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 which has registered him or by the chairman of a higher electoral committee. A person who has nominated an 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.
Article 62. Time and venue of voting
Voting shall take place on polling day from 7am until 8pm 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. Opening 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. Prior to opening of the polling station for voters, only the electoral committee members, observers and the policeman on duty can be present inside. The chairman of the electoral committee, together with the members of the electoral committee, shall make sure that a ballot box is empty and seal it up. 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 commencement of the election.
Article 65. Voter identification
1. At the entrance to a polling station, a voter shall produce to a member of a polling district electoral committee his passport or any other identification document; he may also produce a poll card. 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, the committee member shall hand the voter an arrival card indicating the number of the voter in order of arrival at the polling station to vote and shall indicate the committee member to be applied to for a ballot. 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 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. When voting by post, in advance or at home, an entry shall be made on the poll card concerning the issue of the ballot papers and the poll card shall be returned to the voter.
3. It shall be prohibited to issue the 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 handed ballot papers, a voter shall go into the polling booth and mark 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 Seimas member 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.
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 new 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 completed by a person chosen by him. This person must mark the ballot paper in the voter’s presence under his instructions, preserve 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. Postal voting
1. Voting by post shall be provided for voters who because of their health condition or age are at healthcare (except for outpatient) institutions, social care or guardianship institutions or are performing the mandatory military service and, therefore, are unable to arrive at a polling district to vote, or are performing the 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, remand prisons (detention facilities). Voting by post shall be possible at post offices set specially for postal voting (hereinafter: ‘special post offices’) during their business hours on a last Wednesday, Thursday or Friday before polling day. In military units deployed abroad, postal voting shall be conducted in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission, on the recommendation of the Minister of National Defence. Expenses related to postal voting shall be covered with the state budget funds.
2. The head of an appropriate post office shall be responsible for organising voting by post. The chairman of the electoral committee of the polling district on the territory whereof a post office is situated shall be responsible for organising the supervision over the post office work related to postal voting. He shall, in conjunction with the chairmen of other polling district electoral committees whom the constituency electoral committee has assigned with such a task, organise that the members of the polling district electoral committees participate during voting in special post offices. Commanders of military units deployed abroad shall be responsible for organising postal voting in those military units.
3. The head of the post office shall, with the consent of the constituency electoral committee, appoint postal workers for the issue and collection during the postal voting of ballot papers and postal voting envelopes, where such postal workers are entrusted with the work with election documents. If the constituency electoral committee requests so, the head of the post office must remove a postal worker from work with election documents. Postal workers who are authorised to issue and accept election documents shall be issued by the constituency electoral committee with the certificates of the established form. A postal worker who does not hold such a certificate shall not have the right to issue and accept election documents. An electoral committee member or an election observer who has produced his certificate to the postal worker, a voter who has produced the poll card and his identification document shall have the right to write down their remarks in the postal worker's certificate. The head of the post office shall immediately notify the constituency electoral committee about this fact.
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, mark 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. The postal worker shall issue election documents to a voter in accordance with the procedure established by the Central Electoral Commission. Together with ballot papers, voters shall be given postal voting envelopes. A covering envelope for voting by post shall be addressed by the postal worker to the polling district electoral committee which is indicated on the person’s poll card. When voting by post, in advance or at home, an entry shall be made on the poll card concerning the issue of ballot papers, and the poll card shall be returned to the voter.
6. A voter shall vote in person and in secret:
4) place the ballot paper envelope together with the poll card into the covering envelope for voting by post;
7. The sealed covering envelope for voting by post (with the poll card, the ballot paper envelope and the ballot papers in it) a voter shall hand to a postal worker. Upon having received the envelope handed by the voter, the postal worker shall seal it with a special label 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 mark the ballot papers in the voter’s presence in compliance with his instructions and preserve the secrecy of the ballot.
9. Electoral observers and postal workers 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 unsealed covering envelopes for voting by post 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. Voters shall be prohibited from leaving special post offices with ballot papers, covering envelopes for voting by post or giving them to other persons.
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 compile and update rolls of voters voting at home shall be entitled to receive the data on the persons with disabilities from the administrator of the Republic of Lithuania register of persons covered by state social insurance and recipients of state social insurance benefits and the administrator of the data on the establishment of a working capacity and disability level, and the data on the persons with temporary working incapacity – from the administrator 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 compiling and updating rolls of voters voting at home.
2. Only those voters shall be entitled to early voting who are unable to arrive at a polling district to vote on polling day. A constituency electoral committee shall organise early voting. Early voting must be conducted from 8am to 8pm 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 when voting in advance, 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. Voting in advance 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 organised in these constituencies according to the procedure laid down in paragraph 2 if this Article. In other constituencies voters may vote early in central post offices of counties in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Central Electoral Commission.
4. Requests of voters for voting at home shall be submitted to polling district electoral committees. The acceptance of requests for voting at home from voters residing within the territory of the concrete polling district shall start with the issuing of poll cards to such voters and end on the last Wednesday before polling day. The acceptance of requests for voting 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 fill in a request for voting 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. These persons shall sign the voter’s request and indicate their name, surname and personal number.
5. On the last Thursday before polling day, a polling district electoral committee shall compile 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 compile 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 8am to 8pm at least two members of a polling district electoral committee shall deliver postal 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 postal 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 permitting to observe an election in any polling district of this constituency. After the voting is completed, the sealed covering envelopes for voting by post shall be delivered to the constituency electoral committee which transfers them to polling districts together with the election documents of the voters who voted by post. Lists of voters who voted at home and in advance, unused ballot papers shall be included into the accounting and stored by the electoral committees which organised voting. After the end of the election such committees shall transfer the said documents together with other election documents to an appropriate 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. The sealed covering envelope for voting by post (with the poll card, the ballot paper envelope and the ballot papers in it) a voter shall hand to a member of the polling district (constituency) electoral committee. Upon having received the covering envelope for voting by post handed by the voter, the postal worker shall seal it with a special label 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 an unsealed covering envelope for voting by post. Voters shall be prohibited from leaving with ballot papers or passing them to other persons.
Article 68. Organisation of voting in diplomatic missions, consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania and aboard the ships
1. Voting committees 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 committees shall be composed of a chairman and at least two members. They shall be set up in 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 committee members shall be established by the Central Electoral Commission.
3. Voting committees 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. On the recommendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Central Electoral Commission shall draw up a list of diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania in which voting shall be conducted and shall set polling days (not less than 10) for each diplomatic mission or consular post.
6. In diplomatic missions, consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania – their heads and on ships – their captains (citizens of the Republic of Lithuania) shall be responsible for organising voting, submitting to the Central Electoral Commission the records and other documents designated by it.
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.
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 later than four days prior to 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, by post, in a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Lithuania, shall have the right to vote on 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, voting is organised and with which radio communication is 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 is given the opportunity to vote.
Article 70. Voting in diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania
1. Voters who have gone to foreign states shall be entitled to vote at 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 institutions. Voting shall end on polling day at the Republic of Lithuania time.
2. Voting committees set up by diplomatic missions or consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania shall hand election documents to the voters who have notified the said institutions about the address of their place of residence or, at their request, send the documents by post and accept them.
Article 71. Voting at healthcare (except for outpatient) institutions, social care and guardianship institutions
1. Voters who because of their health condition or age are in healthcare (except for 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 prior to polling day and upon the recommendation of the heads of the institutions specified in paragraph 1 of this Article, draw up a list of special post offices and, upon the recommendation of the head of the post office, set such working hours of the post offices that the days of voting in them would be in compliance with Article 67(1) of this Law.
3. The heads of the institutions referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall draw up a list of voters voting in a special post office. The following must be indicated in such list: voter’s name and surname, personal number, constituency (name and number), whether or not a voter has a poll card. The head of an institution shall transfer the roll of voters voting in a special post office to a constituency electoral committee, receive poll cards from it or print them on the basis of the data received electronically and ensure the delivery of poll cards to voters, provide the premises suitable for voting and be responsible for voters being notified about the working place and time of the special post office as well as facilitating the access of voters to the special post office.
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, electoral observers (if they wish so) and employees of the special post office.
5. Voters who are unable to vote themselves because of their disability may authorise other persons to vote for them. These persons must mark a ballot paper in the voter’s presence under his instructions and preserve the secrecy of the ballot.
6. Electoral committee members, special post office workers and election observers shall be prohibited from carrying out for a voter the voting-related actions as well as from accepting from the voter an unsealed covering envelope for voting by post.
Article 72. Voting at military units
1. Voters performing mandatory 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 upon the recommendation of the commanders of military units stationed within the territory of the Republic of Lithuania, draw up a list of special post offices and, upon the recommendation of the head of the post office, set such working hours of the post offices that the days of voting in them would be in compliance with Article 67(1) of this Law.
3. The commanders of military units shall draw up lists of voters voting in special post offices. The following must be indicated in such list: voter’s name and surname, personal number, constituency (name and number), whether or not a voter has a poll card. The commander of a military unit shall transfer the list of voters voting in a special post office to a constituency electoral committee, receive poll cards from it or print them on the basis of the data received electronically and ensure the delivery of poll cards to voters, provide the premises suitable for voting, and be responsible for voters being notified about the working place and time of the special post office as well as facilitating the access of voters to the special post office. If it is impossible to set a special post office or to ensure that voters will be able to properly carry out the voting-related actions, the commanders of military units (with the exception of the commanders of the military units deployed abroad) shall create conditions for voters to go to another special post office for voting or to travel on polling day to a polling district on the electoral roll of which their names have been entered.
Article 73. Voting at penitentiary institutions
1. Voters who serve an arrest or custodial sentence shall be entitled to vote at an institution where they serve a sentence.
2. A constituency electoral committee shall, not later than 15 days prior to polling day and upon the recommendation of the heads of penitentiary institutions, draw up a list of special post offices and, upon the recommendation of the head of the post office, set such working hours of the post offices that polling days in them would be in compliance with Article 67(1) of this Law.
3. The heads of penitentiary institutions shall draw up a list of voters voting in a special post office. The following must be indicated in such list: voter’s name and surname, personal number, constituency (name and number), whether or not a voter has a poll card. The head of a penitentiary institution shall transfer the roll of voters voting in the special post office to a constituency electoral committee, receive poll cards from it or print them on the basis of the data received electronically and ensure the delivery of poll cards to voters before the voting, provide the premises suitable for voting, and be responsible for voters being notified about the working place and time of the special post office as well as facilitating the access of voters to the special post office.
5. The provisions of this Article and Article 67 of this Law shall apply to voting in arrest houses, remand prisons (detention facilities).
Article 74. Accounting for voting envelopes and ballot papers
1. The procedure for 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. The accounting for, issue and acceptance of postal voting envelopes and ballot papers shall be managed by the heads of the respective post offices. The head of a post office shall enter the accounting data in the log specially designated for this purpose. The accounting for, issue and acceptance of postal voting envelopes and ballot papers used when voting in 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 unused postal voting envelopes, ballot papers and postal voting envelopes with the ballot papers marked by the voters. The Central Electoral Commission shall, not later than until polling day, forward the received voting envelopes with the ballot papers marked by the voters to the polling district electoral committee on the electoral roll of which the voter concerned has been entered.
3. The head of a post office or a person authorised by him shall, one day before polling day, deliver unused postal voting envelopes, receipts confirming the acceptance of the envelopes, special labels and ballot papers to the constituency electoral committee.
4. The heads of the post offices or persons authorised by them shall deliver postal voting envelopes containing the ballot papers marked by the voters to the constituency electoral committees on polling day, but not later than by 11am, and the municipal electoral committees shall forward them to the respective polling district electoral committees by the close of poll.
5. Covering voting envelopes, unused and spoilt ballot papers of 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, transfer covering voting envelopes to a post office.
6. Covering voting envelopes, unused and spoilt ballot papers of voters who voted at home on the last Friday or Saturday before polling day shall be transferred to the chairman of a polling district committee not later than 9.00 pm 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.
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 accordance with the established procedure 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 manner 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. Upon the closing 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 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 the 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 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. Having ascertained, in the presence of at least three-fifths of the members of the polling district electoral committee as well as 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), 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 such 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 received by post 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 presence of 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.
Article 78. Accounting of voters who have voted by postal voting envelopes, counting of their votes and preference votes for candidates
1. After the counting of ballot papers found in the ballot box, ballot papers received in postal voting envelopes shall be calculated in the following procedure:
1) the chairman of the polling district electoral committee presents unopened covering envelopes for voting by post, that is 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 for voting by post shall be announced and entered in the vote counting record;
3) a poll card is taken out of the covering envelope, the voter’s surname and the number of the poll card are read aloud, these data are checked against the electoral roll of the polling district, and in the polling districts which are connected to the electronic electoral roll - against the data of the said electoral roll. The ballot paper envelope for voting by post shall be stamped with the seal of the polling district. If a person on the poll card in the covering envelope for voting by post is not on the electoral roll of the polling district or if a voter has already signed such electoral roll indicating that he has already voted in the polling district, or if it is indicated in the electoral roll that the consent was given for that person to vote in another polling district, or if another postal 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 covering envelope shall be considered inappropriate. The seal shall not be affixed on the ballot paper envelope (envelopes) enclosed in the covering voting envelope which is held to be inappropriate, the ballot paper envelope shall be crossed through, the word “Invalid” shall be written down on it and the grounds why the envelope is held to be inappropriate shall be indicated. A ballot paper (ballot papers) contained 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 paštu" (postal voting) or “BP” (PV) are written by the surname of the voter whose vote has been received by post and at home, while in the electronic roll in the polling districts connected to the electronic electoral roll it is indicated that a voter has voted;
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 postal ballot paper envelope is in the polling district (electoral committee), it, in order to protect the secrecy of the ballot, shall not be opened and shall be delivered to the electoral committee which 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 post 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 having ascertained 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 when the constituency electoral committee decides to recount ballot papers, must, not later than one hour before the commencement of the counting, be announced on two notice boards: the one installed in the building housing the headquarters of the constituency electoral committee, and the other in the premises where preference votes will be counted. When counting preference votes, election observers may attend and a police officer must be on duty. 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 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.
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:
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;
9) the number of votes found in the ballot box which have been separately cast for each candidate for Seimas member;
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);
3. The vote counting record of the multi-member constituency shall cover the following:
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;
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 voters who have voted at home in this polling district, the number of voting envelopes of voters who have voted in advance (the envelopes being received from the constituency electoral committee), the number of covering envelopes for voting by post, the total number of voting envelopes received, the number of sealed ballot paper envelopes for voting by post, the number of envelopes recognised as inappropriate;
13) the number of votes received by voting envelopes 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 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 boxes to the number of the ballot papers received by post 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 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:
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:
2) ballot papers stamped with the seal of the electoral committee of the wrong polling district (ballot papers received by post - without the seal of the constituency electoral committee);
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
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 poll, unless the Central Electoral Commission provides otherwise.
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;
3) whether all data have been entered in the vote counting records; if they do not contradict one another; if 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 voting envelopes received by post, 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 election observers are attached to the record in which they are specified;
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. Having establishing 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 post and at home, which have been counted in 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 vote recounting, different vote counting results are established than those of a 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, 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 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.
Article 86. Complaints about decisions of the electoral committees taken after the close of poll
1. Parties which have nominated a candidate for Seimas member, candidates for Seimas member, 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 investigated 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 considered before the official proclamation of the election results.
3. While investigating 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 candidates for Seimas member, as well as candidates for Seimas member, may appeal to the Seimas or the President of the Republic against the decisions of the Central Electoral Commission or against the refusal of the Central Electoral Commission to investigate complaints about violation 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 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:
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;
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;
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.
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 Seimas member 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 Seimas member. If both candidates received an equal amount of votes during the initial poll, a candidate shall become Seimas member by drawing lots.
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 Seimas member (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 Seimas member (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 which has established 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 Seimas member and establishment of the final order of succession of the lists
1. The Central Electoral Commission shall calculate the rating of candidates for Seimas member 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 Seimas members who are being elected in the multi-member constituency or such sum is equal to the said number, rating points of the candidate shall be equal to that sum; if it is smaller - rating points of the candidate shall be considered to be equal to zero.
3. The final order of succession of candidates for Seimas member on the lists shall be established according the rating points received by each candidate. The first written down in the order of succession shall be the candidate who have received more rating points. In the event that several candidates receive the equal amount of the rating points, then the first written down shall be the candidate was entered first on the election list.
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 rating votes cast for the candidate or votes cast for the candidate for Seimas member 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;
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).
Article 93. Establishment of final election results and declaration thereof
1. The Central Electoral Commission shall establish the final election results after it has investigated 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 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 and mayor or a member of the European Parliament before the expiry thereof
1. A person acting in the capacity of municipal councillor, municipal councillor and mayor or member of the European Parliament who is elected a Seimas member or becomes a Seimas member through filling a vacancy shall lose the mandate of municipal councillor, municipal councillor and mayor or member of the European Parliament.
Article 94. Certificate of Seimas member
1. After the declaration of the election results, the Central Electoral Commission shall issue certificates of Seimas member to the elected candidates within three days.
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 Commission 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 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
Article 96. Recognition of the lapse of the powers of Seimas member
The Central Electoral Commission shall recognise the lapse of the powers of Seimas member, 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 Seimas member - according to the data of the Residents’ Register of the Republic of Lithuania;
2) upon the resignation of a Seimas member - according to the resignation statement written by the Seimas member himself. The Seimas member must repeat this statement himself during a meeting of the Central Electoral Commission. If because of the heath condition the Seimas member 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 finds a Seimas member legally incapable - according to the effective decision of the court;
4) when the Seimas revokes the mandate of Seimas member in accordance with impeachment proceedings - according to the effective resolution of the Seimas;
5) if a Seimas member 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 Seimas member loses citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania - according to the effective legal act concerning the loss of citizenship; and
Article 97. Filling a vacancy in the Seimas
Upon the recognition of the lapse of the powers of Seimas member, a seat shall fall vacant in the Seimas. It shall be filled in the following manner:
1) if the former Seimas member 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 Seimas member, from the list of candidates according to which the former Seimas member was elected to the presently vacant seat becomes a Seimas member. If there are no candidates on this list of candidates who have not received the mandates of Seimas member, the mandate of Seimas member 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. So the first candidate, who has not received the mandate, on the list which has newly received a mandate shall become a Seimas member. The Central Electoral Commission must adopt the decision concerning recognition of the mandate of Seimas member for a new Seimas member not later than within seven days after a seat falls vacant in the Seimas.
Article 98. Loss of the mandate of Seimas member 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 Seimas member 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 Seimas member. An election poster of a candidate for Seimas member, 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 decision 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 Seimas member, the Central Electoral Commission shall immediately cancel his registration as a candidate for Seimas member. 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 Seimas member powers shall be lapse from that day.
3. Each candidate for Seimas member 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 Seimas member, 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 Seimas member 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 Seimas member 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 Seimas member, 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 Seimas member, and if the Committee has already registered him, it shall immediately cancel his registration as a candidate for Seimas member. 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 Seimas member to the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania for the Seimas to take a decision to initiate impeachment proceedings.