official translation

In short

This law outlines the rules for electing members to municipal councils in the Republic of Lithuania, ensuring a fair and transparent process based on universal, equal, and direct suffrage with a secret ballot.

What it regulates

The election of municipal councillors for a four-year term.
The eligibility criteria for voters and candidates.
The principles of universal, equal, and direct suffrage, and secret ballot.
The announcement and timing of municipal council elections.
The formation of multi-member constituencies and polling districts.

Who it concerns

Permanent residents of municipalities aged 18 and older who are not legally incapable.
Permanent residents of municipalities aged 20 and older who wish to be elected as municipal councillors.
The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and the Central Electoral Committee.

Key points

Municipal councillors are elected for a four-year term.
Voters must be permanent residents of the municipality and at least 18 years old on election day.
Candidates must be permanent residents of the municipality and at least 20 years old on election day.
Elections are announced by the Seimas no later than five months before the current councillors' terms expire and are held no earlier than four months and no later than one month before the expiration of powers.
The number of councillors elected depends on the municipality's population, ranging from 21 councillors for up to 20,000 residents to 51 councillors for more than 500,000 residents.
Polling districts can have no more than 5,000 voters.

Įstatymo tekstas

official translation official translation REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA LAW ON ELECTIONS TO MUNICIPAL COUNCILS 7 July 1994, No. I-532 Vilnius (New edition by 19 October 1999, No. VIII-1369, (as amended by 19 September 2002, No. IX-1080) Article

Revised Version of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Elections to Municipal Councils The Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Elections to Municipal Councils shall be amended and set forth to read as follows: “REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA LAW ON ELECTIONS TO MUNICIPAL COUNCILS FIRST CHAPTER GENERAL PROVISIONS Article
The Fundamentals of Elections of Municipal Councillors Members of municipal councils of the Republic of Lithuania (hereafter referred to as municipal councillors, councillors) shall be elected for a four-year term in multi-member constituencies on the basis of universal and equal suffrage, by secret ballot in direct elections according to the proportional election system. Article
Universal Suffrage
The right to elect municipal councillors shall be enjoyed by permanent residents (voters) of that municipality, who on the polling day are aged 18 years. Persons who have been declared legally incapable by the court shall not participate in elections.
Any permanent resident of a municipality who is at least 20 years of age on the polling day may be elected as member of the council of that municipality.
Persons who, with 65 days remaining before elections, have not completed a court-imposed sentence, as well as persons who have been declared legally incapable or insane by the court may not be elected as councillors. A citizen of a foreign state whose passive right to be elected is limited by the court in the state whose citizen he is, may not be elected as a municipal councillor.
Persons who on the polling day are in the active or alternative national defence service, as well as officers, non-commissioned officers and re-enlistees of the national defence system, the police and the internal affairs service, officers on the payroll of other militarised and security services who, with 65 days remaining before elections, have not retired from service may not be elected as municipal councillors.
Other direct or indirect abridgements of the right to vote of permanent residents of that municipality on the grounds of their descent, political convictions, social or property status, nationality, sex, education, language, religion, type and character of their occupation shall be prohibited.
Permanent residents of a municipality shall be citizens of the Republic of Lithuania and persons who have a permit to permanently reside in the Republic of Lithuania and who have declared their place of residence under legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania in the territory of this municipality or the last known address of their place of residence is within the territory of this municipality, or they have indicated by public statement their place of residence in the territory of this municipality and such place of residence is, in a prescribed manner, regarded as their principal place of residence. Permanent residents of Vilnius, Kaunas, Alytus, Šiauliai and Panevėžys, which are the administrative centres of appropriate regions, who are linked with the communities of the appropriate regions by common public needs and interests, and who have informed in writing the Central Electoral Committee about this in accordance with the procedure established by such Committee, shall be regarded as residents of the appropriate regions. Article
Equal Suffrage Every permanent resident of a municipality who has the right to elect a council shall, in a multi-member constituency within the territory whereof he resides, have one vote to cast for a list of candidates to councillors - a vote for a list (according to the sums of the votes cast for each list in a constituency it shall be established which list receives (or does not receive) what number of mandates of municipal councillors) and five additional votes to be cast for the preference of five candidates from the list for which he has voted - preference votes (according to the sums of such votes in a constituency a place of each candidate on the list after elections shall be established). Votes for a list and preference votes shall have the same value as the votes of every other citizen who has the right to vote in the same constituency. Article
Direct Elections There shall be no voting by proxy in elections of municipal councillors. Article
Secret Ballot
Voters shall vote in person and by secret ballot. It shall be prohibited for a person to vote instead of another person or to vote by proxy. 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 Paragraph 5 of Article 63 of this Law. If someone gets to know the secret of another person’s voting, it shall be prohibited to divulge it.
It shall be prohibited to control the will of voters in elections. It shall be prohibited to influence the will of a voter to vote for or against any candidate or the list of candidates. A voter must be provided with the conditions to mark a ballot in secret and without interference. It shall be prohibited to act with a ballot in such a way that the secret of voting might be revealed. Article
Announcement of the Date of Election to Councils
Members of all councils shall be elected at the same time.
Elections to councils shall be announced by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania no later than five months prior to the expiration of the powers of the councillors. If, with four months remaining before the expiration of the powers of the councillors, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania has not announced the date of elections to councils, council elections shall be held on the last Sunday from which at least a month remains before the expiration of the powers of the councillors. Elections to councils shall be held no earlier than four months and no later than one month prior to the expiration of the powers of the councillors.
If council elections must be held in time of war, a decision concerning holding of council elections shall be adopted according to special laws or other legal acts.
The day when ballots are cast in polling stations of polling districts shall be considered the day of elections to councils. Voting held not at polling stations (by post, etc.) shall be carried out on or before the polling day as it is provided for in this Law. The term which is calculated from the polling day and may be implemented only when the election results are proclaimed shall be started to be calculated from the day of proclamation of the election results.
The date of run-off elections in a constituency shall be announced by the Central Electoral Committee in cases provided for in this Law no later than within 15 days from the day when the necessity to hold such elections has occurred, unless otherwise provided in this Law. It shall also announce the election date in the case specified in paragraph 2 of this Article. Article
Openness of Preparation and Holding of Elections
Public notice about a forthcoming meeting of the 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.
Meetings and voting of electoral committees shall be open and may be observed by representatives and observers of political parties (hereinafter referred to as "parties") and political organisations upon presenting certificates of the established form or credentials with the seal of the organisations which have authorised them; representatives of the mass media, upon presenting their authority or service cards. A candidate for municipal councillor may participate in the 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 the meeting by the chairman of the electoral committee.
Persons present in the conference 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, filming, and video recording which requires walking about the hall or using special lighting equipment, as well as live radio or television broadcasting of meetings shall be subject to the permission of the electoral committee chairman.
Electoral committees may not hold closed meetings. The Central Electoral Committee may prohibit anyone from entering the workroom of the service staff of electoral committees, document safe-keeping premises if it is necessary to guarantee undisturbed working conditions of the staff and to protect election documents.
If there are reasons to believe that during a meeting a threat to the security of its participants may arise, the chairman of the committee may instruct the police to check the documents and belongings of the persons entering the conference room or carry out their personal search.
The electoral committee may remove from the meeting hall persons who interfere with the work of the committee. Article
Expenditure Related to the Preparation and Conduct of Elections Expenditure related to the preparation and holding of elections to councils shall be covered from the state and municipal budgets. The expenditure of electoral committees related to the organisation and conduct of elections and the work of the members of electoral committees and the service staff shall be covered from the state budget. Maintenance of premises of polling stations and the office space of constituency electoral committees and polling district committees, expenditure of purchasing and keeping of the equipment of polling stations shall be covered from municipal budgets. If the municipality fails to provide adequate premises and supplies for the office of the polling district and the polling station, by the decision of the Central Electoral Committee, state funds shall be used for this purpose. In such a case, the actual expenses for the polling station and its supplies shall be recovered without suit by the Central Electoral Committee from the municipality. SECOND CHAPTER CONSTITUENCIES AND POLLING DISTRICTS Article
Formation of Constituencies
For the organisation and execution of elections on the territory of a municipality one multi-member constituency shall be formed where all voters of such municipality who have the active right to vote shall cast their votes.
According to the proportional system of elections, in a constituency: 1) more than 500 000 residents shall elect 51 councillors; 2) from 300 000 to 500 000 residents shall elect 41 councillors; 3) from 100 000 to 300 000 residents shall elect 31 councillors; 4) from 50 000 to 100 000 residents shall elect 27 councillors; 5) from 20 000 to 50 000 residents shall elect 25 councillors; and 6) up to 20 000 residents shall elect 21 councillors.
The Central Electoral Committee shall, at least 85 days prior to the elections, announce constituencies and the number of councillors to be elected. Article
Formation of Polling Districts
With a view of making it more convenient for a voter to reach a polling station and with account of the number of voters, the territories of cities and regions shall be divided into polling districts.
The division of the territory of a city or region, which shall be permanent when organising and conducting various elections and referenda, into polling districts shall, on recommendation of the mayor, be approved and be changed, where necessary, by the Central Electoral Committee. The Central Electoral Committee shall publish a list of approved polling districts, and changes made therein in the Valstybės žinios ( The Official Gazette).
No more than 5 000 voters must reside within the territory of a polling district.
The boundaries of a polling district and the address of a polling station shall be changed, where necessary, but no later than 100 days prior to the election. In his recommendation to approve the division of the territory of the municipality into polling districts, the mayor shall specify the proposed name of a polling district, the addresses belonging to the polling district, the number of voters in the district, the address and telephone number of a polling station. The recommendation on changes in the division of the municipality into polling districts shall specify the changes it is proposing. These changes must be submitted to the Central Electoral committee at least 110 days prior to the election. In the event when it is impossible to have polling at the polling stations established earlier, the Central Electoral Committee, on the recommendation of the constituency electoral committee, may change the address of the polling station within a shorter time limit than the one specified in this Article. Third CHAPTER ORGANISATION of Elections Article
Electoral Committees
Elections to councils shall be organised and conducted by: 1) the Central Electoral Committee; 2) constituency electoral committees; and 3) polling district electoral committees.
A citizen of the Republic of Lithuania may be proposed to an electoral committee provided he has the right to be elected as 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 the polling day) and has not been removed from the electoral committee or referendum commission during the last three elections to the Seimas, office of the President of the Republic, councils, or the referendum for the violations of laws on elections or the Law on the Referendum.
The same person cannot concurrently be: a member of the electoral committee and a candidate for councillor; a candidate for councillor and a representative of a party, political organisation for elections (hereinafter referred to as “representative for the elections”); a representative for the elections and a member of the electoral committee; a candidate for councillor and an observer of the elections; a member of the electoral committee and an observer of the elections. Provided that a member of the electoral committee is willing to be a candidate for election as councillor, he must, no later than 10 days prior to giving consent to become a candidate, resign in writing from the post of a member of the electoral committee. If the member of the electoral committee has not done so, he shall be relieved from the electoral committee for the violation of this Law and shall be not registered as a candidate for councillor or shall be removed from the candidates for councillor. Article
Repealed 1 August 2002 Article
Formation of Constituency Electoral Committees
The Central Electoral Committee shall for the period of elections form constituency electoral committees no later than 74 days prior to the elections.
Constituency electoral committees shall be composed of: 1) one person who resides or works in that city, region, has higher legal education, and who is nominated by the Minister of Justice; 2) one person who resides or works in that city, region, has higher legal education, and who is nominated by the Lithuanian Bar Association; 3) one career civil servant who works in the administration of the municipality of that city, region and who is nominated by the mayor of that city, region; 4) persons nominated by parties, political organisations, their coalitions which have received the mandates of Seimas member in the multi-member constituency; and 5) persons nominated by the parties, political organisations, their coalitions which, during the last elections to the council, have received not less than 3 mandates of the members of this council.
The Minister of Justice, the Lithuanian Bar Association and the city, region mayor may propose more candidates.
Parties, political organisations, their coalitions which have received the mandates of Seimas member in the multi-candidate constituency shall each have the right to propose two representatives (hereinafter referred to as “candidate”) for one such list of candidates (joint list) nominated in the multi-member constituency to constituency electoral committees. The parties, political organisations, their coalitions which, during the last elections to the council, have received mandates of the members of this municipal council according to the list (joint list) of nominated candidates, shall each have the right to propose one candidate to constituency electoral committees for one such list of candidates (joint list) nominated in the constituency. If the party, political organisation may propose candidates according to the results of elections to the Seimas and elections to the council as well, then it shall propose candidates according to the results of only one of these elections for choice. If one of the organisations, which has participated in the election coalition, does not propose candidates or refuses to propose them, or chooses to propose them according to other, as the coalition was formed, election results, the other organisations, which have participated in this coalition, shall have the right to propose candidates in its absence. Parties, political organisations, their coalitions shall submit a list of candidates to the Central Electoral Committee not later than 81 days prior to elections. If candidates for membership meet the requirements of this Law, the Central Electoral Committee may not reject said candidates. In the event that candidates for membership have not been proposed, the Central Electoral Committee may additionally appoint as members of the committee persons who are proposed by the Minister of Justice, the Lithuanian Bar Association or city, region mayor.
In all cases, not less than three committee members shall be the persons appointed to a constituency electoral committees from the candidates proposed by the Minister of Justice, the Lithuanian Bar Association and the city, region mayor. If these people make up less than three members of the committee, the committee shall be enlarged from the persons proposed by the Minister of Justice, the Lithuanian Bar Association or the city, region mayor.
If elections to the Seimas or to the office of President of the Republic, or the council, or a referendum are concurrently held on the same day, the same electoral committees of polling districts or referendum commissions shall be formed. The Central Electoral Committee shall form a single - city, region, constituency or referendum - committee on a separate electoral, referendum territory and shall establish its functions in organising and carrying other elections or a referendum.
The Central Electoral Committee shall appoint chairman of the constituency electoral committee from the committee members.
During its first sitting, the constituency electoral committee shall elect a deputy chairman and a secretary of the committee. Article
The Powers of Constituency Electoral Committees The constituency electoral committee shall: 1) in the manner prescribed by the Central Electoral Committee, inform the voters who reside in the constituency about the boundaries of polling districts, their offices, working hours and polling stations; 2) supervise the implementation of this Law in the constituency; 3) form polling district electoral committees; 4) distribute the funds allocated for the elections among polling district electoral committees, control the utilisation of these funds and report to the Central Electoral Committee on the funds used for the elections; 5) register election observers and issue them with certificates; 6) accept application documents of nomination of candidates of parties, political organisations, examine them, register the lists of candidates for election as councillors, candidates for councillor, issue registered candidates with certificates, register coalitions which are being formed or recalled, establish numbers of the lists of the candidates of coalitions; 7) make up a list of health care, social guardianship and care institutions, military units and places of confinement situated in the territory of a constituency, and together with the head of the post office have care of the organisation of voting by post in those places; 8) draw up the vote counting record of the constituency, establish election results and direct them the Central Electoral Committee for approval; following the decision of the Central Electoral Committee, publish the list of the elected councillors in the press; 9) consider complaints against decisions and actions of the polling district electoral committees and adopt decisions concerning them; revoke decisions which are not in compliance with the requirements of laws and other legal acts; and 10) exercise other powers provided for in this Law. Article
Formation of Polling District Electoral Committees
No later than 65 days prior to the election, the constituency electoral committee shall establish the number of the members of each polling district electoral committees, which must be a multiple of the number of the parties and political organisations which have the right to propose candidatures. If the number of proposed candidatures is insufficient or there is a vacancy in the committee, the mayor of a municipality on the territory whereof the polling district is formed may propose the lacking candidatures.
The following shall have the right to propose an equal number of candidates to a polling district electoral committee: 1) each party, political organisation or their coalition which has received the mandates of Seimas member in a multi-member constituency during the last elections to the Seimas. If the party, political organisation has received mandates of Seimas member while being in the coalition, it may propose candidates together with the organisations which participated in the coalition; 2) the party, political organisation or their coalition which has received the mandates of councillors from the list of nominated candidates (joint list) in the last elections to the council. If the party, political organisation has received mandates of councillors while being in the coalition, it may propose candidates together with the organisations which participated in the collation.
If the party, political organisation may propose candidates according to the results of the elections to the Seimas and to a municipal council as well, then it shall propose candidates according to the results of only one of these elections for choice. If one of the organisations which have participated in the election coalition, does not propose candidates or refuses to propose them, or chooses to propose candidates according to other, as the coalition was formed, election results, other organisations which have participated in this coalition shall have the right to propose candidates in its absence.
Parties, political organisations shall submit their lists of candidates to the constituency electoral committee no later than 48 days prior to the elections.
Constituency electoral committees shall for the period of elections form polling district electoral committees no later than 45 days prior to the elections. If a candidate, proposed by the party, political organisation, meets the requirements set forth in this Law, the constituency electoral committees may not reject the candidate.
If no candidates have been proposed or the proposed candidates do not meet the requirements of this Law, or they have been proposed after the set period of time, a constituency electoral committee may decrease the earlier established number of the members of the polling district electoral committee or address the mayor to propose the lacking number of candidates for polling district electoral committees. The candidates proposed by the mayor may not be the members of parties, political organisations or to become such prior to the expiration of the powers of a member of an electoral committee. If during a sitting not less than three members of the constituency electoral committee, while appointing a member of the polling district electoral committee, object to the appointment of the candidate proposed by the mayor, to be a member of the polling district electoral committee, this candidate may not be appoint a member of the committee.
Constituency electoral committees shall appoint chairmen of polling district electoral committees from the members of the committees.
During its first sitting the polling district electoral committee shall elect deputy chairman and secretary of the committee. Article
The Powers of the Polling District Electoral Committee The polling district electoral committee: 1) shall receive voter lists from the constituency electoral committee, provide conditions for voters, representatives for the elections to familiarise themselves with said lists, hand voter certificates to voters or distribute them in some other manner, inform the constituency electoral committee about inaccuracies noticed in the voter list of the polling district; 2) shall consider complaints concerning errors made in the voter list of a polling district; 3) shall, in the manner prescribed by the Central Electoral Committee, supervise the course of voting by post on the territory of a polling district, and monitor the provision of opportunities for voting by post in all health care, social guardianship and care institutions, military units and the places of confinement situated on the territory of the polling district; 4) shall, together with a representative of the municipality, have care of preparing polling stations, voting booths and ballot boxes in due time pursuant to the requirements provided in this Law; 5) shall organise voting in the polling district on the polling day; 6) shall count votes and draw up the vote counting records of the polling district; 7) shall consider the complaints of the voters and observers of that polling district on issues concerning the preparation of the elections, organisation of voting, vote count, drawing up of vote counting records, and shall adopt decisions related thereto; and 8) shall exercise other powers provided for in this Law. Article
Written Pledge of Electoral Committee Members
A member, chairman of an electoral committee shall start holding the position in the electoral committee upon having given a written pledge.
The Central Electoral Committee shall establish the procedure for giving a written pledge by members and chairmen of electoral committees of constituencies and polling districts. The text of a written pledge of the member and 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.”; 2) “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."
The person who has given a written pledge shall sign at the foot of the pledge. The text of he written pledge may not be altered. The pledge shall be effective for the whole duration of the appointment to work in the electoral committee.
The written pledges of the members, chairmen of the electoral committees shall remain in the custody of the electoral committee which has administered them.
When appointing an electoral committee member, the Central Electoral Committee or a constituency electoral committee shall fix the date by which he must give a written pledge. The person who has not given a written pledge within 15 days after his appointment shall be removed from his position in the electoral committee. Article
Organisation of the Work of Electoral Committees
Sittings of electoral committees shall be valid provided that at least three-fifths of the members of the committee are in attendance. Decisions made by the committees shall be adopted by open vote of the majority of the committee members participating in the sitting. In the event of a tie vote, the committee chairman's vote shall be casting. Committee members who do not agree with a decision shall have the right to state a separate opinion in writing, which shall then be appended to the minutes of the sitting and shall be an inseparable part thereof.
Upon the end of elections, the powers of the chairmen, members of electoral committees of polling districts, constituencies shall be terminated. The decision to terminate the powers shall be adopted by the electoral committee which appointed the committee members, when this committee, its chairman have fulfilled all the tasks assigned to him according to the Law.
The chairman or member of an electoral committee who has given a written pledge shall be prohibited from any form of election campaigning or attempts to influence the voters' will in any other way. Individuals who have violated this requirement, a written pledge of a committee member must be dismissed from the committee and may be held liable under law. Article
Appeals Concerning Decisions of Electoral Committees which are Adopted prior to the Completion of Voting
Parties and political organisations which have nominated a candidate for councillor, a candidate for councillor, representative for the elections, election observer may appeal against the decision of the electoral committee which has been adopted prior to the completion of voting, or any other activity thereof: 1) that of the polling district electoral committee - to the constituency electoral committee; 2) that of the constituency electoral committee - to the Central Electoral Committee; and 3) that of the Central Electoral Committee - to the High Administrative Court of Lithuania.
A voter, representative of a political party, a political or public organisation, who does not agree with the decision of the polling district electoral committee which has been adopted on his appeal concerning the errors made in the voter list because of which the voter may not implement his right of voting (he has been incorrectly put on or struck off the voter list or if the data about the voter has been inaccurately entered into the voter list), may appeal against the decision of the polling district electoral committee to the administrative court of an appropriate county.
The appeal must be investigated within 48 hours from the filing thereof. Non-working days shall be included in this time limit. The decision of the court shall become effective after its pronouncement. The appeals which have been filed not in compliance with the procedure established in this Article, shall not be investigated and shall be transferred to that electoral committee which must investigate them. A polling district electoral committee, a constituency electoral committee may not transfer to the Central Electoral Committee for consideration the appeals which are within their own jurisdiction and which have not been investigated by them. Article
Support of Electoral Committees
State and municipal institutions, enterprises, agencies and organisations, as well as their officers must assist electoral committees in exercising their powers and must furnish them with necessary information.
State and municipal institutions, enterprises, agencies and institutions, as well as their officers must consider requests submitted by electoral committees and give the electoral committee a justified response within 3 days.
Electoral committees may employ the required number of personnel for assistance work.
Local authorities of cities and regions, state institutions and organisations must provide electoral committees with proper premises and equipment for the preparation and execution of elections. Article
Payment for Work of Electoral Committee Members
For their work in electoral committees, the chairmen and members of electoral committees shall be receive payment at the rates submitted by the Central Electoral Committee and approved by the Government..
Repealed 1 August
Article
Changing the Composition of Electoral Committees
The chairman or member of an electoral committee may be removed from his position in the committee by the electoral committee which approved the composition of said committee, or the Central Electoral Committee.
The electoral committee may consider only the justified proposal of a party or political organisation to recall the member of the electoral committee whom it has proposed.
When necessary, new chairman or member of the electoral committee may be appointed according to the procedure established by this Law even upon expiration of the time limits set in paragraph 1 of Article 13 and paragraph 5 of Article
FOURTH CHAPTER Voter Lists and VOTER CERTIFICATES Article
Voter Lists
For the organisation and holding of elections, the following voter lists shall be compiled: 1) the list voters of the Republic of Lithuania; 2) lists of voters of constituencies; and 3) lists of voters of polling districts.
Voter lists shall be drawn up twice - provisional and final. These lists may be used only for organisation and execution of elections.
The procedure for compiling voter lists must be such that every person who is entitled to vote shall be registered in voter lists. No one may be registered in a voter list more than once.
At the request of the parties which have nominated candidates and for the purpose of election campaigning general voter lists of a concrete constituency may be drawn up and presented. The parties which are registered in the State Register of Personal Data Controllers may obtain general voter lists (in electronic storage media or printed). The following shall be laid down in general voter lists: voter's name, surname, address and date of birth. Actual expenses related to drawing-up of such lists shall be covered by the party which has ordered them. If a voter has, in manner prescribed by legal acts, expressed his disagreement that his place of residence or date of birth would be made public in general voter lists, only his name and surname shall be indicated in these lists. Parties may not submit general voter lists to the third persons and use them for the purposes other than election campaigning. They must destroy the obtained data within 30 days following the proclamation of the final election results.
The voter list of the Republic of Lithuania and the voter lists of constituencies which are drawn up and kept by the keeper of the population register, shall be made in electronic storage media. Voter lists of polling districts shall be printed. The procedure and form of compiling of lists, method of compiling and the procedure for their use shall be established by the Central Electoral Committee. When drawing up voter lists, the following informational shall be used: 1) in the voter list of the Republic of Lithuania: name, surname, person's number, date of birth, number of the document confirming citizenship, address of a place of residence and grounds for entering the address in the population register; 2) in the voter list of constituencies: name, surname, person's number, date of birth, address of a place of residence and grounds for entering the address in the population register; 3) in the voter list of polling districts: name, surname and the address of a place of residence. The address of the voters who have expressed disagreement that their address would be announced in the voter list of a polling district, shall be indicated only in the annex of the voter list of the polling district and in the voter certificate.
Every voter shall enjoy the right to disagree that the address of his place of residence would be publicly announced in the voter list of a polling district, and that both the address of his place of residence and his date of birth or either of them would be indicated in the general voter lists which are furnished to the parties. The Central Electoral Committee shall together with the keeper of the population register create conditions for a voter to carry out his right to disagree that the address of his place of residence would be announced in the polling list of a polling district and that the address of his place of residence and his date of birth would be announced in the general voter lists. Article
General Procedure for Registering Voters of the Republic of Lithuania in Voter Lists
All persons who have the right to vote shall be registered in the voter list of the Republic of Lithuania according to the data of issuance of the passport, identity card or a permit for permanent residence in the Republic of Lithuania, and according to the population register of the Republic of Lithuania. Public institutions which issue documents confirming the identity of a person, keep the data pertaining to the declaration of persons' place of residence, register the deaths of persons and the loss of citizenship, shall be also responsible for accurate and timely recording of relevant changes and verifications in the population register of the Republic of Lithuania. Lists compiled according to the data of the population register of the Republic of Lithuania shall be provisional.
Compiling, checking and execution of voter lists shall be organised by the Central Electoral Committee on the basis of the information furnished by state, municipal institutions and constituency electoral committees.
The following persons shall be struck from the voter list of the Republic of Lithuania: 1) a diseased voter; 2) a person who has lost the citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania on the basis of international agreements of the Republic of Lithuania; and 3) a citizen who has been declared legally incompetent by the court.
Provisional voter lists with changes done therein and acknowledged in the procedure established by the Central Electoral Committee shall be not more than 7 days prior to the election approved as final voter lists. Changes in final voter lists may be done only with the consent of the Central Electoral Committee. Article
Voter Lists of Electoral Areas The voter list of a constituency shall be made in electronic storage media by the Central Electoral Committee according to the voter list of the Republic of Lithuania and the place of residence of a voter indicated therein (the last known place of residence of the voter), and shall be delivered to the constituency electoral committee at least 39 days prior to the election. Concurrently, lists of voters whose place of residence is unknown shall be drawn up. Article
Voter Lists of Polling Districts The voter list of a polling district shall be drawn up by the constituency electoral committee according to the voter list of a constituency and the place of residence indicated therein, and shall be delivered to the polling district electoral committee at least 26 days prior to the election. A list of voters whose place of residence is unknown shall be also compiled. Article
Public Announcement of Voter Lists and Access to Voter Lists
The polling district electoral committee shall, at least 25 days prior to the election, provide conditions for the voters to have access to the voter list of a polling district. Voters shall be provided with data of an annex of the polling district voter list which concern only them. It shall be prohibited to make copies of voter lists of a polling district or to copy or distribute such lists in any other manner. At the entrance to the premises of an electoral committee, a notice must be posted indicating duty hours of the committee members, and telephone numbers through which the voters may check whether they are included in the voter list. Upon the expiration of the time limit, specified in this Law, for issuing voter certificates, notices indicating the duty hours of the polling district electoral committee and its contact telephone numbers must be also posted in the stairways of multi-family apartment buildings.
The voter list of the Republic of Lithuania and voter lists of constituencies shall not be announced publicly, however, a voter may be provided with data regarding his registration in the voter list by telephone as well. Article
Voter Certificate
A voter certificate shall be a document issued by an electoral committee specifying in the voter list of which polling district a voter is registered. One cannot vote by post without this certificate.
A voter certificate shall contain: 1) the name and surname of the voter; 2) the birth date of the voter (year, month, day); 3) the address of the voter; 4) the name and number of a constituency in which the voter votes; 5) the name, number of the polling district in the voter list of which the name of the voter has been included, as well as the address of the polling station; 6) the successive number of a voter in the voter list of a polling district; and 7) the election date, polling time at a polling station of the polling district; it shall also advise that this certificate is required for voting by post, and may include other information significant to the voter. Article
Delivery of Voter Certificates
The delivery of voter certificates to voters shall be organised by a polling district electoral committee.
The delivery of voter certificates shall be noted in the provisional voter list of a polling district. A voter certificate shall be either delivered to the voter personally or to the other person who lives together with the voter, or to the neighbour of the voter who knows the voter and undertakes to deliver the voter certificate to the voter. The delivery of voter certificates to voters must be finished at least 20 days before the election.
The voter who has not received a voter certificate in due time or who has received a voter certificate with inaccuracies, must without delay inform the polling district electoral committee on whose service territory he is residing, about this and to produce his passport, identity card or a permit for permanent residence in the Republic of Lithuania to the electoral committee. If the voter is registered in the voter list of this polling district, the polling district electoral committee must write out a new voter certificate to the voter and issue it to him immediately. If the voter is not registered in the voter list of this polling district, but the address of the place of residence declared in the manner prescribed by legal acts by the voter according to the population register data is assigned to this territory of the polling district or the voter announces publicly that he resides on the territory of this polling district, the constituency electoral committee shall provide a request blank, the form whereof is prescribed by the Central Electoral Committee, to be filled in by the voter to include him in the voter list of this polling district (or a member of the polling district electoral committee shall fill in this request himself), and shall immediately inform the constituency electoral committee about this, which must have care of registering the voter in the voter list of this polling district. The voter certificate shall be written out and delivered to the voter upon checking the accuracy of voter lists.
A constituency electoral committee may, in the manner prescribed by the Central Electoral Committee, write out a voter certificate for the voter who is on the voter list of another constituency, provided he is unable to return to his permanent place of residence to receive or otherwise get the voter certificate. The voter must request this in writing and produce the passport, identity card or a permit for permanent residence in the Republic of Lithuania. Article
Checking the Accuracy of Voter Lists before Drawing up Final Lists
The accuracy of provisional voter lists shall be checked when transferring a voter from one voter list of a polling district, constituency into another, striking from or registering a voter in the voter list of the Republic of Lithuania.
The voter shall be transferred from one voter list into another if it becomes clear that the address of his place of residence in the provisional list is incorrect or it has changed after said list was drawn up.
Transferring of the voter from the voter list of one polling district into another in the same constituency shall be executed by the constituency electoral committee and it shall inform the Central Electoral Committee about the changes made in voter lists of polling districts. Transferring of the voter from the voter list of one constituency into another shall be executed by the Central Electoral Committee on the recommendation of the constituency electoral committee and shall inform the constituency electoral committees about the changes made. Only the Central Electoral Committee may register a voter in or strike him from the voter list of the Republic of Lithuania in the cases provided in Article 24 of this Law. Article
Registration of Servicemen, Voters who are in Places of Confinement in Voter Lists
Voters performing the active service or alternative national defence service shall be included in the voter lists of the polling district on the territory of which they had permanently resided before they were summoned for the active service or alternative national defence service.
Officers, non-commissioned officers and re-enlistees of the national defence system and the internal affairs service shall be included in the voter lists of the polling district on the territory of which they permanently reside.
Voters who are in places of confinement shall be registered in the voter list of the polling district on the territory of which they had permanently resided before they were placed in confinement. If a person who is in a place of confinement requests in writing, he shall be registered in the voter list of the polling district on the territory of which the place of confinement is situated. Article
Checking the Accuracy of Voter Lists upon Compiling Final Voter Lists, as well as on the Polling Day If following the approval of the final voter lists, but no later than until 6 p.m. on the polling day, a voter addresses the polling district electoral committee and submits the passport, identity card or a permit for permanent residence in the Republic of Lithuania and the document about the declared place of residence (the place of residence must be assigned to the territory of this polling district), but the voter is not registered in the voter list of this electoral district, the polling district electoral committee shall register the voter in the additional voter list of the polling district and shall allow him to vote according to the procedure established by the Central Electoral Committee, and shall immediately inform the constituency electoral committee about the voter’s surname, name, personal number, his passport number and the address recorded in the passport. The constituency electoral committee shall check if the voter is registered in the voter list of the constituency and take actions to guarantee that the voter would not be able to vote twice or the ballot papers filled by him will be counted only once. If the voter has voted twice, only that vote shall be counted which was put in the ballot box of the polling district. The other vote of the voter, received by post or when cast according to the additional voter list of the polling district shall not be counted. Article
Complaints Concerning Voter Lists
A voter or a representative for the elections may, no later than 7 days before the election, lodge complaints with the polling district electoral committee concerning the errors made in voter lists due to which the voter is not registered in the voter list in the manner prescribed by this Law or is registered in several voter lists. The polling district electoral committee must consider the complaint and adopt a decision thereon either immediately or within 2 days of the receipt thereof, if more than 10 days are left until the polling day.
The decision of the polling district electoral committee may be within 3 days appealed against to the administrative court of an appropriate county, which shall consider the complaint within 2 days. The decision of the court shall be final.
Complaints and comments shall not be considered after the expiration of the term established for filing comments or complaints.
Polling district electoral committees shall report to the constituency electoral committee about the received complaints and changes made in the voter lists by the court’s decision, and the constituency electoral committee shall report to the Central Electoral Committee as soon as possible but no later than within 12 hours. FIFTH CHAPTER NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES FOR COUNCILLOR Article
Nomination of Candidates for Councillor
A party or political organisation which has been registered pursuant to the Law on Political Parties and Political Organisations no later than 65 days prior to the election, may nominate candidates for councillor.
The party, political organisation shall nominate candidates for councillor by presenting a list of candidates in which candidates are recorded in such succession as established by the party or political organisation. The number of candidates on the list may not be less than 10 candidates and not more than twice the number of mandates established in that constituency. Candidates must meet the requirements specified in Article 2 of this Law. Article
Application Documents for the Nomination of Candidates for Councillor
A party, political organisation must file with the Central Electoral Committee the following application documents: 1) an application for the participation in the election; 2) a copy of its registration documents, as well as it may submit the programme, election programme of the party, political organisation; 3) the list of constituencies in which the party, political organisation intends to nominate candidates; 4) a power of attorney for a representative for the elections to represent it in the Central Electoral Committee, as well as the powers of attorney to represent it and the candidates nominated by it in constituency electoral committees; 5) the document evidencing the payment of the election deposit; 6) a copy of the declaration concerning the last year’s financial activities, which had to be submitted to the tax inspectorate pursuant to the Law on Political Parties and Political Organisations, approved by this inspectorate, and it may also submit a copy of the account (report), which had to be publicly announced according to the Law on Political Parties and Organisations, concerning the budget receipts and their sources, expenditures and their purpose.
If the party, political organisation nominated candidates or candidates’ lists during the preceding elections to the Seimas or councils, it shall have the right to submit a copy of the report published in the press, which had to be published in pursuance of the laws on the elections to the Seimas and municipal councils, concerning the sources and use of funds for election campaign.
The party, political organisation must file with the constituency electoral committee the following application documents: 1) the list of nominated candidates in which candidates are placed in a numerical order, signed by a representative for the elections of the organisation nominating lists of candidates; 2) written consents of the nominated candidates to be nominated by this party, political organisation in this constituency, a questionnaire for a candidate for councillor filled in by the candidate himself, as well as the extract containing the basic data from his income and property declaration, presented to the State Tax Inspectorate, approved by that tax inspectorate to which the declaration has been submitted; and 3) the certificate issued by the Central Electoral Committee, concerning the registration of the organisation, nominating lists of candidates, for the participation in the elections to this council.
In the questionnaire of a candidate for councillor, a person who is nominated as a candidate for councillor must fill in the following data himself: name, surname, number of the passport or other document confirming identity of the person, personal number, date of birth, address of the permanent place of residence, whether his court-imposed sentence has expired, whether or not he is a person who is in the active service or alternative national defence service, whether or not he is a serviceman of the professional military service who is transferred to the reserve or has retired from the service, whether or not he is an officer of a statutory institution or agency whose participation in political activities are restricted by special laws or statutes, also whether he is a member of the elective administration body of another state; he must answer the questions indicated in Article 88 of this Law and sign. If a candidate is a citizen of another state, he must also indicate whether his passive right to vote is not limited in the state whose citizen he is. Other questions, additionally established by the Central Electoral Committee may also be included in the questionnaire of a candidate for councillor, and the person may not answer them.
The filing of application documents shall commence 65 days before and shall end at 5 p.m., 34 days before the day of the election. Article
Registration of Candidates for Councillor
Upon the commencement of registration of candidates, at the request of the Central Electoral Committee the Ministry of Justice shall within one day confirm officially which parties, political organisations are registered, and the activities of which parties, political organisations have been suspended or terminated.
Upon receiving the application documents of a party, political organisation, the Central Electoral Committee 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, political organisation and the validity of the submitted statutes. The Ministry of Justice must give a written reply within two days and submit to the Central Electoral Committee a transcript of effective statutes. The Central Electoral Committee shall, within 7 days following the receipt of the application documents, issue the representative for the elections of the organisation nominating lists of candidates, a certificate concerning the registration of the organisation nominating lists of candidates to participate in the elections.
While checking the application documents filled in by a candidate for councillor, the constituency electoral committee shall determine whether the candidate meets the requirements of Article 2 of this Law. When necessary, the Central Electoral Committee may appeal to the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, Justice or other state institutions to furnish the data important for registering the candidate. Such appeal of the Central Electoral Committee must be considered in the extra urgency procedure, and a written reply must be given within 7 days, but not later than 32 days before the election.
Upon checking out the submitted application documents and establishing that they meet the requirements of this Law, the electoral committee must adopt a decision concerning the registration of a candidate within 10 days following submitting of the application documents, but not less than 31 days prior to the election.
If the application documents are incorrect, the electoral committee must immediately inform the appropriate representative for the elections about them. Article
A Representative for the Elections
A representative for the elections shall represent the party, political organisation which has authorised him on all issues in the Central Electoral Committee or a constituency electoral committee. In sittings 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 representative for the elections shall, on the territory of the constituency electoral area whereof he is authorised to represent, have all the rights of an election observer. Upon announcing the date of the elections to councils, powers of attorney by parties, political organisations to represent them in electoral committees may be filed with the Central Electoral Committee on the day following the formation of an appropriate electoral committee. If the candidature of the representative for the elections meets the requirements of this Law, the Central Electoral Committee shall within 3 days register the power of attorney given to him and shall issue a representative’s for the elections certificate. The power of attorney for a representative for the elections shall expire after the lapse of 20 days following the proclamation of the final results of election.
Until the polling day, a party, political organisation may revoke a power of attorney at any time and to authorise another person to be a representative for the elections. In this case, a representative for the elections must be registered, a certificate must be issued to him, and the registration of the previous representative for the elections must be terminated within 3 days. Article
Electoral Deposit
The electoral deposit for registering one list of candidates for councillor in a constituency shall be equal to one most recent average monthly wage of the national economy (AMW).
The electoral deposit for changing the place of one candidate on the list, for entering a new candidate on the list - half of the AMW, for joining the candidates’ lists together - 0.3 of the AMW for each joint list.
Election deposits for registration of the list of candidates shall be doubled for that party, political organisation which at the preceding elections to the Seimas or municipal councils nominated candidates or the list (lists) of candidates and did not furnish a copy of the report published in the press concerning the sources and use of the funds for election campaign.
Within 40 days following the final proclamation of the election results, the Central Electoral Committee shall refund the electoral deposit to the party, political organisation which has furnished it, if the list (joint list) of candidates nominated by it becomes eligible for distribution of mandates in a multi-member constituency and the report on the sources and use of the funds for election campaign, which has to be published pursuant to this Law, has been published in the press.
The non-refundable deposits shall be transferred to the State Budget. Article
Prohibition for One Person to be a Candidate in Several Constituencies or on Several Lists of Candidates
Each candidate for Councillor may be entered in the list of candidates nominated by only one party, political organisation in a constituency.
If the person is entered in the list of candidates nominated by more than one party or is nominated as a candidate in more than one constituency, the Central Electoral Committee shall request him to choose in whose list of candidates he would like to stand for election. If the candidate does not notify in writing about his choice with only 35 days remaining to the election, he shall be struck off all the lists of candidates. Article
Joining of the Lists of Candidates When not less than 35 days remain until the election, several parties, political organisations may join the lists of candidates nominated by them. In order to do so, they must submit a statement to the constituency electoral committee concerning the joining of lists of candidates, in which the name of a coalition shall be stated. The joint list in which the candidates are entered in a newly established succession, as well as the document confirming that the electoral deposit for joining the lists of candidates has been furnished shall be submitted as well. Only those persons can be put down on the joint list who are on the lists which are being joined together. The name of a coalition must include the word “coalition” and it cannot contain any references to the names of the parties, political organisations which do not form this coalition. The joint list shall be considered to be a single list. The same party, political organisation may not participate in more than one coalition. Article
The Right to Withdraw or Supplement Electoral Application Documents
A party, political organisation as well as a person who has been nominated as a candidate for councillor, may at any time, but no later than 25 days before the election, declare their application documents fully or partially withdrawn. A party, political organisation or election coalition shall notify the Central Electoral Committee about this by a statement, the citizen - by a statement, confirmed in the notarial procedure, and the relevant representatives for the elections in the Central Electoral Committee shall be informed about this. If application documents are withdrawn, the electoral deposit may be refunded only after the election, provided it becomes refundable as provided in Article 38 of this Law. It shall be allowed to additionally submit new application documents when altering the sequence of candidates on a list of candidates or when nominating new candidates.
If the application documents are being withdrawn by the party, political organisation that has formed a coalition, the candidates nominated by it shall be struck off 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 representatives for the elections of the coalition partners in the Central Electoral Committee. If upon withdrawal of the electoral application documents, the candidates of only one party, political organisation remain on the coalition list of candidates, they will participate in the election only as the candidates of that party, political organisation.
If upon withdrawal of application documents or annulment of the candidates’ registration, there are less than 10 candidates left on the list of candidates, the registration of all the candidates of this list shall be annulled. Article
Publication of the Names and Lists of Candidates, Beginning of the Election Campaign
With no less than 30 days prior to the election, the Central Electoral Committee shall announce the list of the parties, political organisations which participate in the election and the numbers furnished to them by drawing lots. The election campaign shall commence from the day of such announcement.
With no less than 30 days prior to the election, the certificates of candidates for councillor shall be delivered by constituency electoral committees to respective representatives for the elections, indicating election numbers of the candidates. The election number of the candidate shall, at the moment of its assignment, coincide with a successive number of the candidate on the list of nominated candidates (joint list). The furnish election number of a candidate may not be changed until the proclamation of election results.
With no less than 18 days prior to the election, the constituency electoral committee shall announce lists of candidates (joint lists) nominated by the parties, political organisations which participate in the election. SIXTH CHAPTER GUARANTIES OF THE ACTIVITIES OF CANDIDATES FOR COUNCILLOR Article
The Right of a Candidate for Councillor to Speak at Meetings, to Use the Mass Media
After the commencement of the election campaign, candidates for councillor shall have the equal right to speak at voters' meetings or any other meetings, gatherings, conferences as well as through the state and municipal mass media, and to publicly announce his election program or the election programme of the party, political organisation which has nominated him as candidate.
Heads of state power and government institutions, as well as heads of local authorities must help candidates for Councillor 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 decrees of the Government. Article
Liability for the Violation of this Law Persons who prevent by force, deception, threat, bribery or otherwise voters from implementing the right to vote or to be elected to councils, and to organise campaigning, as well as the members of electoral committees, other officers who have falsified election documents, counted fraudulently the votes, violated the secrecy of the voting or otherwise violated this Law, shall be held liable under laws of the Republic of Lithuania. Legal action shall also be instituted against persons who have publicised or otherwise disseminated false data about a candidate for councillor or prevented a candidate from meeting with voters. Article
The Right of a Candidate for Councillor to be Relieved from Work or his Service Duties during the Period of Election Campaign Upon his request, a candidate for councillor may be relieved from work or other service duties for the period of organising and holding the election, but no longer than for 14 days. Article
The Immunity of a Candidate for Councillor Without the consent of the Central Electoral Committee, during the election campaign as well as until the first sitting of a newly elected council, a candidate for councillor may not be found criminally liable, arrested, neither can administrative penalties be judicially imposed on him for the actions done during the election campaign. SEVENTH CHAPTER ELECTION CAMPAIGN Article
The Fundamentals of an Election Campaign
The conditions prescribed by this Law to start campaigning shall be provided for parties, political organisations and candidates from the day the election campaign starts.
Campaigning may be conducted in any form or manner, provided it does not contradict the Constitution and the laws of the Republic of Lithuania. Article
Conditions and Procedure for the Use of the Mass Media
Organisations that have submitted lists of candidates for elections, shall be granted the right to use the state and municipal mass media free of charge. Rules of the preparation of programmes intended for election campaigning, the actual duration and time of the National Radio and Television of Lithuania programmes shall be established by the Central Electoral Committee upon co-ordination with the heads of the National Radio and Television of Lithuania. It shall also distribute in such a manner that the principles of equality of the organisations who have submitted lists of candidates, and of the lists of candidates are preserved. Each organisation who is submitting a list of candidates, shall be allotted no less than 20 minutes of radio and television time and additional time shall be allotted proportionately to the number of the lists of candidates submitted.
The actual time and duration of municipal radio and television programmes allotted for the election campaign shall be established by a constituency electoral committee, upon co-ordination with the heads of the radio and television, and shall be distributed in such a manner that the principles of equality of the lists of candidates are preserved.
The election programme of a list of candidates shall, in the manner prescribed by the Central Electoral Committee, be published by the constituency electoral committee within 20 days after it was submitted. Election programmes of the lists of candidates shall not be announced after the polling day and during the period of prohibition of election campaigning.
Campaigning in the commercial mass media shall be restricted only by the size of special election accounts.
All disputes concerning the election campaign shall be settled by the Central Electoral Committee, in compliance with the fundamentals provided for in this Law. Article
The Publicising of Material Compromising a Candidate for Councillor and a Countering Opinion of the Candidate
If during the election campaign the mass media publicise some material compromising a candidate for councillor (such data may be publicised not later than: in a means of the mass media which is issued more than three times a week, 5 days prior to the election, in other means of the mass media - 10 days before the election, but in all cases the material compromising a candidate may be publicised not later than in the issue preceding the last issue of a means of the mass media prior to the election), it must provide the candidate with a possibility of expressing a countering opinion, which consists of a short exposition of the publicised compromising material and the candidate’s reply. The extent of the countering opinion usually may not exceed the volume of the compromising material more than three times. The means of the mass media must publicise the candidate’s countering opinion within 7 days after it has been expressed, but not later than prior to the 2 days remaining before the end of the period allowed for election campaigning. If the means of the mass media itself cannot publicise the candidate’s countering opinion during the period of time set by this Law, it must with its own funds publicise the candidate’s countering opinion in another means of the mass media.
The material which is aimed to influence 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 the candidate publicised in the mass media (unlike the information, criteria of the truth shall not be applied to an opinion), negative as well, shall not be considered as compromising material and shall not entitle the candidate to demand publicising of a countering opinion. A demand by the candidate’s to publicise a countering opinion may not be met also when: the material publicised does not concern him personally; the publicised material about him is not compromising; the compromising material about the candidate is publicised by him or by another candidate who is nominated on the same list of candidates or is nominated by the same party, political organisation; the material contains no information describing the candidate; the candidate has already used the right to a countering opinion.
If the candidate has duly furnished the countering opinion to the means of the mass media, but it has not been publicised, by the decision of the Central Electoral Committee the candidate’s countering opinion shall be broadcast on the National Radio or Television of Lithuania and shall be paid for at the price of advertisements. In this event, the means of the mass media must pay the Central Electoral Committee two times the amount of the broadcast cost.
If the compromising material about the candidate has been publicised during the period of time when it cannot be publicised according to this Law, by the decision of the Central Electoral Committee the candidate’s countering opinion shall be broadcast on the National Radio or Television and shall be paid for at the price of advertisements. In this instance the means of the mass media must pay the Central Electoral Committee three times the amount of the broadcast cost.
In all cases a countering opinion shall not be publicised during the period of the prohibition of an election campaign. Publicising of a countering opinion shall not exempt the means of the mass media from responsibility under laws of the Republic of Lithuania.
When a countering opinion of the candidate is publicised by the decision of the Central Electoral Committee, the cost of publicising established by this Law shall be exacted without suit from that means of the mass media which has publicised the material compromising the candidate during the prohibited period or has not publicised the candidate’s countering opinion in time. Article
Releasing the Material Compromising a Party, Political Organisation which has Nominated a List of Candidates and the Countering Opinion
If during the election campaign the mass media release the material compromising a party, political organisation which has nominated a list of candidates (such data may be released not later than: in a means of the mass media which is issued more frequently than three times a week - 5 days before the election, in other means of the mass media - 10 days before the election, but in any case the material compromising the party, political organisation which has nominated a list of candidates may be released not later than in the last but one issue of a means of the mass media before the election), it must provide the party, political organisation or one of the branches of the party, political organisation with a possibility to express a countering opinion. The countering opinion shall consist of a short exposition of the released compromising material and the party’s reply. The extent of the countering opinion usually may not exceed the volume of the compromising material more than three times. The means of the mass media must announce the countering opinion within 7 days after it has been expressed, but not later than 2 days before the prohibition of campaigning becomes effective. If the means of the mass media itself cannot announce the countering opinion during the period of time set by this Law, it must make arrangements to publicise the countering opinion with its own funds in another means of the mass media.
The material which is aimed at influencing voters not to vote for the candidates nominated by a specific party, political organisation and which contains information negatively describing the party, political organisation (its branch or division) shall be considered as compromising material. An opinion about the party, political organisation announced in the mass media (unlike hard news, 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, political organisation the right to demand announcement of a countering opinion. The demand to announce a countering opinion may also be rejected in cases when: the released material doe not concern the party, political organisation; the released material is not compromising; the compromising material about the party, political organisation is released by a candidate nominated by the party, political organisation; the material contains no information characterising the party, political organisation; the party, political organisation has already exercised the right to a countering opinion.
The party, political organisation shall give its countering opinion to the means of the mass media through its representative for the elections at the Central Electoral Committee or through its representative for the elections at the constituency electoral committee. In the event the representative for elections has given the countering opinion to the means of the mass media by the due date, but it has not been made public, the countering opinion shall be broadcast, on the decision of the Central Electoral Committee, on the National Radio or Television of Lithuania and shall be paid for at the rates of advertisement fees. In this event, the means of the mass media must pay the Central Electoral Committee double the amount of the broadcast costs.
If the compromising material was released during the time period when its release is not permitted under this Law, by the decision of the Central Electoral Committee the candidate’s countering opinion shall be broadcast on the National Radio or Television of Lithuania and shall be paid for at the rates of advertisement fees. In this event the means of the mass media must pay the Central Electoral Committee three times the amount of the broadcast costs.
In any case a countering opinion shall not be announced during the period when campaigning is prohibited. Announcement of a countering opinion shall not exempt the means of the mass media from liability under the laws of the Republic of Lithuania.
When the countering opinion is released on the decision of the Central Electoral Committee, the costs thereof set by this Law shall be recovered without suit from that means of the mass media which has released the compromising material during the period when such release is not permitted or has not announced the candidate’s countering opinion. Article
Prohibition to Conduct Election Campaigning while Abusing one’s Official Position
Anyone shall be prohibited from abusing his official position in state or municipal institutions, offices or organisations, as well as in the state or municipal mass media when carrying out any type of election campaign, from instructing other persons to do so, or from trying to exert influence upon the will of voters in any other manner, while using his official position. State and municipal officials shall be prohibited from using their official position in creating for themselves or their party, exceptional election campaigning conditions. An administrative or criminal action may, in accordance with the procedure established by laws, be taken against the official who has violated this Article.
If a person is a candidate for councillor, he can use the state or local authority mass media only according to the procedure set forth in Article 48 of this Law. If the fulfilment of their duties requires to announce to the mass media important news, they can do it only at a press conference. The state or municipal mass media may publicise only a recording of such conference, which contains no election campaigning. Article
Election Campaign Funding
An election campaign shall be financed from the funds received from parties, political organisations and candidates for councillor, which are being accumulated in a special election account opened according to the certificate issued by the Central Electoral Committee.
The maximum amount of money permitted for campaigning shall be in the amount of 100 AMWs for each list of candidates and 500 AMWs for a an organisation presenting lists of candidates. If the amount of money transferred to the appropriate election account exceeds the established sum, the surplus shall be transferred by the bank to the State budget.
The expenditures of the election campaign shall be: the cost of preparing, acquiring, producing or rendering of events, publications, radio or television programmes, as well as items or services aimed at influencing the will of voters to vote for or against a candidate or candidates. It shall be prohibited to cover these expenditures from other than these accounts. Election campaign items and services the cost of which is more than 0.5 AMW may not be provided free of charge. Election campaign items and services cannot be provided by giving obvious discounts. Those who desire to support a list of candidates or a candidate must do this by transferring funds to special election accounts. If expenditures related to election campaign items were made before the commencement of the election campaign, the party, political organisation or the candidate shall inform the Central Electoral Committee about this, which, upon evaluating the election campaign items, shall reduce the maximum amount of funds of the special election account permitted to be used for the election campaign by the amount of their expenditure and shall issue a certificate that these items may be used during the election campaign. The means of the mass media without the state or municipal capital may indicate which list (lists) of candidates or which candidate (candidates) it supports and later publicise their election campaign free of charge. In this instance it shall not be allowed to remunerate the means of the mass media for publicising such an election campaign in any other way. In the event that single services of the election campaign, the cost of which is less than 0.5 AMW, are rendered for free by the supporters of a candidate, a list of candidates (it shall not be permitted to the individuals specified in Article 51), they shall not be estimated and shall not alter the maximum amount of the special election account.
Upon establishing that during the election campaign the payment for election campaign items or services has been made not from the special election account, as well as in cash or indirectly, the tax inspectorate shall recover without suit the sum or remuneration (the sum or remuneration which had to be paid) paid for election campaign items, services from the receiver thereof and shall transfer to the State budget.
The election campaign shall be also financed from the State funds. The candidates, party, political organisation shall not pay for the time on state, municipal radio and television allotted to them under this Law, for publishing candidate list election programs, and these expenditures shall not change the maximum allowable amount of the special election account.
The utilisation of funds allocated for campaigning shall be controlled by tax inspectorates and the Central Electoral Committee. Parties, political organisations must file with the Central Electoral Committee reports, the form whereof is prescribed by the Central Electoral Committee, concerning the sources of funds and their utilisation for campaigning not later than within 25 days following the proclamation of final election results. The Central Electoral Committee shall publish these reports in the Valstybës þinios.
Special election accounts shall be closed not later than within 20 days after the proclamation of final election results. Candidates, parties, political organisations which have nominated a list of candidates shall, at their own discretion, use the funds that have not been used for election campaigning. The funds of the accounts which have not been closed in time shall be transferred by the bank to the State budget. Article
Prohibition of Campaigning on the Polling Day
Campaigning shall be prohibited during the 30 hours preceding an election and on the polling day, with the exception of permanent visual campaign material in the places intended for this, provided that it was displayed at least 48 hours prior to the beginning of the election. During the period of election campaign prohibition no visual campaigning material (with the exception of those issued by the Central Electoral Committee) may be displayed in a polling station or within 50 meters of the building in which a polling station is situated.
Individuals in violation of the provisions listed in this Article, shall be held liable under law. EIGHTH CHAPTER PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES OF THE ORGANISATION OF ELECTIONS Article
Establishment of Election Document Samples The Central Electoral Committee shall establish the samples and forms of voter certificates, ballot papers, posters with data about a candidate (candidates), voucher envelopes and outer envelopes for voting by post, other documents, blanks, questionnaires, official envelopes, packages, seals used in elections, as well as the samples for filling them out. Article
Ballot Papers
During the election to the council, each voter shall be presented with one ballot paper - for voting for a list of candidates in a multi-member constituency and for the preference of five candidates from this list.
The ballot paper must contain the following: 1) instructions for the voter how to fill in a ballot paper, and special spaces in the ballot paper to express voter's will; 2) allotting equal space for each list of candidates in one part of a ballot paper, election numbers and names of lists of candidates printed in the same type and arranged according to the assigned election numbers in an increasing order. The type of the name of a list of candidates shall be chosen of such size which would best fit to fill the space designated for inscription. A ballot paper shall contain the names and surnames of not more than 15 candidates appearing first on the list; 3) the second part of the ballot paper shall contain five special spaces where a voter puts down the election numbers of chosen candidates when voting. Article
Delivery of Ballot papers
Constituency electoral committees shall deliver ballot papers and envelopes to central post offices at least 2 days prior to the beginning of voting by post, ballot papers to polling districts - no later than 12 hours preceding the beginning of voting.
The Central Electoral Committee shall be responsible for the publishing of ballot papers and envelopes for voting by post, as well as for keeping of records and delivery thereof without violating the fixed dates. Article
Preparation of Polling Stations
The polling station of a polling district must be completely prepared for elections not later than 12 hours before the beginning of voting. By that time all ballot papers received from the constituency electoral committee would have to be counted by the electoral committee and their acceptance report would have to be drawn up. In the polling station of a polling district there must be a ballot box, secret voting booth (booths) where a voter could fill in ballot papers in secrecy. Campaign material or voter information material, issued by the Central Electoral Committee, may be displayed and lists of candidates for elections in this polling district must be displayed in the polling station. The text of this Law must be accessible in each polling district. The election campaign material, except for the material issued by the Central Electoral Committee, shall 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, local election observers must be also arranged. Upon completion of the preparations the 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.
Other requirements for the preparation of polling stations shall be established by the Central Electoral Committee.
The chairman of the polling district electoral committee shall be responsible for the timely and proper preparation of the polling station. In the event that the municipality does not allot suitable premises for establishing a polling station, or fails to provide the inventory required for voting, the polling district electoral committee chairman must inform the constituency electoral committee and adopt appropriate measures to locate a suitable polling station and acquire the appropriate inventory as provided for in Article 8 of this Law. Article
Election Observers
Parties, political organisations, as well as the representative for the elections shall have the right to appoint election observers. An election observer shall be a person bearing the certificate in the form established by the Central Electoral Committee. He shall have the right to observe elections conducted on the territory of that constituency or polling district which is indicated in his certificate. The observer’s certificate shall be issued by: 1) the Central Electoral Committee - to observe elections within the entire territory of the Republic of Lithuania or only within specific constituencies, polling districts in accordance with the recommendation of the Foreign Affairs Minister, recommendation of an adviser to the President of the Republic, requests by individuals who represent foreign states or international institutions, and also according to its own discretion; 2) a constituency electoral committee - to observe elections within the entire territory of this constituency or in one or several polling districts to citizens of the Republic of Lithuania and persons, having the active right to vote, and who are at least 18 years of age pursuant to the request of a local office or a representative for the elections of the party, political organisation, in which the name, surname of the person, personal number, name of the polling district (districts) must be indicated.
The observer’s certificate shall be issued by the chairman of the electoral committee on behalf of the electoral committee or by any other member of the committee at the behest of the committee chairman. It shall not be allowed to refuse to issue a certificate or delay its issuance, if the person to whom it should be issued meets the requirements of this Law. All refusals to issue an observer’s certificate shall be reported at the next committee sitting and an appropriate representative for elections shall be notified thereof.
An election observer shall have the right to demand that the chairman and members of an electoral committee, as well as persons who are in the polling station to adhere to this and other laws of the Republic of Lithuania. Electoral committees must take care of providing an election observer with proper conditions at the polling station of a polling district to monitor the observance of this Law. If an observer violates this or other laws himself, his observer’s certificate may be annulled by the decision of the chairman of the constituency electoral committee, and the members of the electoral committee, the Central Electoral Committee and an appropriate representative for elections shall be immediately informed about the decision. NINTH CHAPTER VOTING Article
Time and Place of Voting Voting shall take place on the polling day from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the place designated by the electoral committee of the polling district. The voter shall vote in the polling district in the list of voters of which his name has been included, unless this Law provides otherwise. Article
Prohibition to Carry out other Activities in the Polling Station It shall not be allowed to carry out any other activities in the polling station, except organisation of the election and voting. It shall also not be allowed to carry out any activities in the passageways leading to or out of the polling station (corridors) and at the entrance to the building where the polling station is situated. Article
Commencement of Voting On the day of election, the polling station shall be opened only when at least 3/5 of the members of the electoral committee of the polling district are present. 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 the ballot box is empty and shall seal it up. After the polling district electoral committee checks that the polling station has been furnished without violation of 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 count record, stamp ballot papers, distribute ballot papers and the voter list among the members of the electoral committee, register the number of ballot papers distributed among each member of the electoral committee into the vote count record of the polling district, and open the polling station, thereby proclaiming the commencement of the elections. Article
Voter Identification
At the entrance to the polling station, a voter shall present his voter certificate, passport or other document proving his identity to an electoral committee member of the polling district. Upon having established that the voter has arrived at the polling district in the list of voters of which his name has been included, a committee member shall hand the voter an arrival card indicating the numerical order of the voter’s arrival at the polling station to vote and shall show the committee member to be applied to for a ballot. It shall not be permitted to hand several arrival cards to one voter or to hand another voter’s arrival card to him. If upon arriving at the polling station, the person does not have the required documents or it is not clear whether he has been registered on the list of voters of this polling district, the committee member shall not hand the arrival card to this person, shall hand him a guest’s card and refer him to the committee chairman or deputy chairman to find out about voting.
The committee member who is instructed to hand out the ballot papers, having established on the basis of the produced documents that the person who arrived to vote is indeed the person who has been registered on the list of voters, or provided that two persons registered in the list of voters of that polling district witness to this fact in writing to the electoral committee chairman, shall find the surname of the voter on the list of voters, and shall accept the voter certificate and the arrival card from the person. After the voter and the committee member, who hands ballot papers, sign on the list of voters of the polling district, the voter shall be handed one ballot papers. The voter certificate and arrival card shall not be returned to the voter. In voting by post, an entry shall be made on the voter certificate concerning the issue of a ballot paper, and the voter certificate shall be returned to the voter.
It shall be prohibited to hand the voter the ballot paper of another person. The member of an electoral committee who violates this provision shall be liable under law. Article
Voting Procedure
Having been handed a ballot paper, the voter shall proceed to the voting booth and mark the ballot paper. It shall be prohibited to mark a ballot paper outside the voting booth.
On a ballot paper the voter shall mark that list of candidates whom he is voting “for” and shall, in the places specially designated for this purpose, put down the election numbers of five chosen candidates from the list of candidates he has voted for. If the election number of the same candidate is put down two or more times, only one vote shall be counted for this candidate according to this ballot paper.
The voter shall personally cast his marked ballot paper into the ballot box.
Upon the request of a voter, a spoiled ballot paper shall be exchanged for a new one. After a spoiled ballot paper is crossed out and signed by the member of the electoral committee who hands out a new ballot paper, the spoiled papers shall be kept separately.
The voter who because of his physical disability is unable to mark his ballot paper and cast it into the ballot box himself, may invite another person (with the exception of the chairman of the electoral committee or its member, or an election observer) to carry out these actions in his place. A voter who has no physical disabilities, which would prevent him from filling in the ballot paper, must vote by himself. Article
Voting by Post
Voting by post shall provide voters who are not able to arrive at a polling district on the polling day to vote due to the health or other reasons with a possibility to participate in elections. Voting by post shall be possible at post offices during their business hours, beginning with 5 days before the election and ending 1 day prior to the election, provided the voter is put on the voter list of the constituency which is situated in that city, region, and ending 2 days prior to the election, provided the voter is not put on the voter list of the constituency which is situated in that city, region. Expenses related to voting by post shall be covered by the State.
The head of the post office shall be responsible for organising of the voting by post. He shall be responsible for keeping of records, issue and collection of ballot papers and voucher envelopes during the voting by post. The chairman of the polling district electoral committee on the territory whereof the post office is situated, shall be responsible for organising the supervision over the post office work related to voting by post.
The head of the post office, with the consent of the constituency electoral committee, shall appoint postal workers (officers) for the issue and collection of ballot papers and voucher envelopes during voting by post, who are entrusted with the issue of ballot papers and voucher envelopes. 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 election papers shall be issued by the constituency electoral committee, the certificates in the established form. An electoral committee member, election observer, having produced his certificate to the postal worker, a voter, having produced the voter certificate and the document proving his identity, shall have the right to write his remark on this certificate, and the head of the post office shall immediately notify the constituency electoral committee about this remark. The postal worker who is not in possession of this certificate shall not have the right to issue election papers.
Post offices must provide a room (place) where the voter can, without interference and in secrecy, mark the ballot papers and put them into a voucher envelope. Voting procedure may be observed by the observers of parties and political organisations, who have certificates permitting them to observe elections in any polling district.
The postal worker shall issue election documents in accordance with the procedure established by the Central Electoral Committee. Together with ballot papers, voters shall be given envelopes for voting by post. An outer envelope for voting by post shall be addressed by the postal worker to the electoral committee of the polling district which is indicated in the voter certificate of the person.
Voting in secrecy, the voter shall: 1) mark the ballot paper; 2) put the marked ballot paper into the voucher envelope; 3) seal the voucher envelope; 4) place the voucher envelope into the outer envelope together with the voter certificate; 5) seal the outer envelope; and 6) seal the outer envelope.
The outer envelopes, voucher envelopes, and ballot papers shall, at least 2 days prior to the election, be delivered by a postman to the homes of voters who are not able to arrive for voting at a post office or at an electoral district on the polling day due to health reasons. Together with a postman not less than 2 committee members, as well as observers may arrive at the voter’s home. The list of these voters shall be compiled at least 10 days before the elections by the polling district electoral committees in accordance with the requests to ensure a possibility to vote at home, which are filled out by voters personally according to the form established by the Central Electoral Committee. Electoral committees, with consent of the chairman of the constituency electoral committee or a constituency electoral committee member, authorised by the chairman, may supplement the list if they get requests of such voters less than 3 days left before the election. Requests of voters must be also approved by the heads of city, regional social guardianship and care institutions or health care and medical treatment institutions, or by the officers who are authorised by them for that purpose. The requests shall be added to the list, compiled by the polling district electoral committee, of the voters who are not able to arrive for voting at a post office or at a polling district on the polling day due to health reasons. Postal workers, members of electoral committees or other individuals may not bring outer envelopes, voucher envelopes and ballot papers to the homes of voters who are not registered on the list of the voters who are not able to arrive for voting at a post office or at an electoral district on the polling day due to health reasons. The following may be registered on the list of the voters who are not able to arrive for voting at a post office or at a polling district on the polling day: invalids of group I, persons with a locomotor disability (group II) and the persons with temporary incapacity to work, if they have submitted requests, provided for in this paragraph of the Article, to ensure a possibility to vote at home. Officers who have submitted inaccurate data about voters who are unable to arrive for voting at a post office or at a polling district on the polling day due to health problems, shall be held liable under law.
The sealed outer envelope (with the voter certificate, voucher envelope and ballot paper in it) the voter may: 1) hand to a postal worker; 2) hand to the postman who has delivered the election documents to him; or 3) put into a post-box.
When a voter casts a vote at home, it shall be prohibited to exert any influence on his decision and to hasten him to vote. The voter who has no physical defects preventing him from marking a ballot paper, shall personally put the secretly marked ballot paper into the voucher envelope, seal it, place the sealed voucher envelope into the outer envelope together with the voter certificate and seal it.. On the request of the voter who, due to his physical defects, is not able to do that himself, this shall be performed by the person (except a postman, electoral committee member or observer) chosen by the voter whom he trusts and who must maintain confidentiality of the voting. The voter may deliver the sealed outer envelope to a postman or post it on the same or another day.
It shall be prohibited to accept from the voter an outer envelope which is not sealed. Article
Voting in Medical Treatment Facilities and Institutions of Social Guardianship and Care
Special post offices designated for voting shall be established in medical treatment facilities and institutions of social guardianship and care. At least 20 days before the election the constituency electoral committee shall: on the recommendation of heads of medical treatment facilities, institutions of social guardianship and care compile the list of special post offices; on the recommendation of the head of the post office establish the working hours of these post offices. The head of the institution shall allot the place appropriate for voting and shall be responsible that the voters are notified about the working place and time of a special post office, and that the conditions should be created for voters to reach it.
Patients or inmates of such facilities and institutions who are in an ambulatory condition shall vote themselves in the polling place in accordance with the procedure set forth in Article 64 of this Law.
Patients or inmates of medical treatment facilities and institutions of social guardianship and care who are not able to arrive at a polling station due to health reasons shall be visited by no less than two electoral committee members, observers (if they participate) and officers of the special post office.
The voting person must, under conditions of secrecy, personally mark the ballot paper and put it into the voucher envelope. If necessary, he may avail himself of the services of another individual (except those of an employee of that institution, a postman, a member of the electoral committee, or an election observer) whom he trusts.
According to the instruction of the head of the medical treatment facilities or the institution of social guardianship or care, it may be prohibited to disturb for the purpose of voting patients who are in bad condition. Such instruction shall be obligatory to postmen.
It shall also be prohibited to disturb an individual for the purpose of voting, if a commission of doctors has concluded pursuant to the established procedure of the Ministry of Health Care that he is incapable of understanding the essence of his actions and controlling them at the time of voting because of chronic mental disease, feeble-mindedness, or temporary mental disorder. Article
Voting in Military Units
Special post offices designated for voting shall be established in military units of the national defence system and internal service, as established in Article
If possible, chief officers of military units shall provide conditions for servicemen to vote in polling districts of their permanent place of residence. Article
Voting in Places of Confinement
Special post offices designated for voting shall be established in places of confinement, as established in Article
In accordance with the procedure set forth by law, heads of places of confinement may allow sentenced persons to vote in polling districts of their permanent place of residence. TENTH CHAPTER COUNTING OF VOTES Article
Counting of Voucher Envelopes and Ballot Papers in Post Offices
The records of voucher envelopes and ballot papers shall be kept by the head of the post office, indicating the data of said records in a journal specially designated for this purpose in accordance with the procedure established by the Central Electoral Committee.
The post office head shall deliver unused envelopes and ballot papers to the constituency electoral committee one day prior to elections.
The post office shall deliver envelopes containing ballot papers marked by voters to polling district electoral committees on the day of the election, but not later than 2 hours before the closing of the election.
The Central Electoral Committee shall keep records of voucher envelopes and ballot papers in the Republic of Lithuania. Article
Organisation of Work of a Polling District Electoral Committee When Counting Votes
The chairman of the polling district electoral committee shall organise and supervise vote count the committee. His instructions for vote count shall be compulsory and all persons present in this place must adhere to them. He must ensure that votes would be count 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 decision. The decision shall be entered into the vote count record, and shall be signed by the committee chairman. The decision must be enforced without delay, and if necessary, the electoral committee may consider it only after the vote counting record has been signed.
All of the data which are entered into the record must be publicly announced in such a manner that all the persons participating in vote count would hear them. If the validity of the ballot paper or the meaning of the marks in it 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
Keeping of Records of Ballot Papers in Polling Districts
Upon the closing of a polling station, the chairman of the polling district electoral committee, in the presence of at least 3/5 of the members of the electoral committee, shall seal and stamp the ballot box slot.
Unused ballot papers shall be individually collected from each member of the polling district electoral committee, shall be counted publicly, the number of them shall be entered into the vote counting record. According to signatures in the voter list, voter certificates, arrival cards, ballot papers which have been spoiled by voters and returned to be exchanged for blank ballot papers it shall be inspected if the committee member has handed all ballot papers lawfully.
The electoral committee shall count the unused and spoiled ballot papers publicly; annul them by cutting off the upper right corner; put them into the envelopes specially designated for this purpose and seal these envelopes. The number of unused or spoiled ballot papers shall be entered in the vote counting record. Article
Counting of Votes of the Voters who Have Voted in the Polling Station of the Polling District
The polling district electoral committee, in the presence of at least 3/5 of its members, shall inspect whether the ballot box seals of the polling district have not been broken and whether there are no other signs which indicate that it could have been opened or that ballot papers could have been removed in any other way. The electoral committee, in the presence of at least 3/5 of its members, shall decide if the ballot box has been tampered with. If the committee decides that the ballot box was tampered with, an act shall be drawn up about this, the ballot box shall be packed up, the package shall be put under seal and votes shall not be counted. The ballot box shall be delivered to the constituency electoral committee. The decision concerning calculation of votes of this ballot box shall be adopted by the constituency electoral committee.
Having ascertained, in the presence of at least 3/5 if the members of the committee as well as observers, that the ballot box has not been tampered with, it shall be opened, all ballot papers shall be placed on tables on which there are no other documents and writing-materials ( except black lead pencils), and the committee shall start counting the votes. When counting, the committee may divide all ballot papers into groups according to votes cast by voters for lists of candidates and additionally single out a group of ballot papers with which the voter has not voted for any list of candidates or has voted for several lists. Upon having counted the ballot papers in the said groups, the number of votes cast by voters for lists of candidates and the number of invalid ballot papers shall be set. 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. All ballot papers must be recounted at least two times. The second time different committee members must check whether ballot papers are grouped according to the marks made by voters, as well as recount the ballot papers. Counting results must be proclaimed and entered into the record, counted ballot papers put into a special envelope (envelopes) which is sealed and safeguarded. After the electoral committee establishes how many votes have been cast for lists of candidates by voters who voted in the polling station of the polling district, counting of votes received by post shall commence.
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 for whom the voter have cast a preference vote or votes, may not be declared invalid only because of this reason. If a voter has not indicated the election number of a candidate in the ballot paper, indicated a non-existing election number of a candidate, as well as when it is impossible to define voter’s will from the inscription or inscriptions regarding the preference, 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.
A decision regarding the declaration of a ballot paper invalid or in the presence of dispute between 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.
Votes shall be counted in such a way that this procedure, 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 Central Electoral Committee shall establish the concrete procedure for the counting of ballot papers and votes not later than 14 days before the election. Article
Keeping of the Records of Voters who Have Voted by Post and the Counting of their Votes and Preference Votes for the Candidate
After the counting of ballot papers found in the ballot box, ballot papers received by post shall be calculated in the following procedure: 1) the chairman of the polling district committee shall present, unopened, all outer envelopes received by post. Their number shall be announced and entered in the vote counting record; 2) outer envelopes shall be opened one at a time; 3) a voter certificate shall be taken out of the outer envelope, the voter’s surname shall be read aloud, it shall be checked against the voter list of the polling district, and the voucher envelope shall be stamped with the seal of the polling district. If the person on the voter certificate is not on the voter list; if the voter has already signed the voter list indicating that he has already voted in the polling district; if another envelope for voting by post has been received from the same voter; if there is no voter certificate in the outer envelope; or if there is more than one voucher envelope in the outer envelope - the seal shall not be affixed and the ballot paper in the envelope shall be considered invalid. This fact must be noted on the voucher envelope (voucher envelopes); 4) in the voter list of the polling district, the words "voted by post" or “VBP” shall be written by the surname of the voter whose vote has been received by post, and the voucher envelope shall be cast into the ballot box prepared and sealed according to the established requirements; and 5) when all envelopes received by post have been inspected, the ballot box shall be opened and the sealed voucher envelopes shall be opened. If there is more than one ballot paper in the voucher envelope, all ballot papers in the envelope shall be considered invalid. Then the votes received by post shall be counted according to the requirements of Article
If only one sealed voucher envelope for voting by post is in the polling district (committee), it, in order to protect the secrecy of voting, shall not be opened, and shall be handed over to the electoral committee, which has formed this committee, which shall enter the results of the voting in its vote counting record.
After votes cast in a polling station and by post for lists of candidates have been counted, all data have been entered into the first part of the vote counting record, this part of the record have been signed by the committee members, chairman and observers and the polling district committee has announced to the constituency electoral committee that the votes for lists of candidates were counted, the polling district committee may commence counting votes cast for candidates (preference votes). The polling district 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 a manner prescribed by the Central Electoral Committee, be transferred in a special envelope for safekeeping to the constituency electoral committee. In this case, the constituency electoral committee, after it has accepted election documents from the polling district committee, must adopt one of the following decisions on the counting of preference votes in the ballot papers transferred to it: 1) to return ballot papers and to instruct the polling district committee from which it has got the preference votes to count such votes; 2) to change the decision of the polling district committee from which the election documents have been received, regarding the counting of preference votes and to instruct the 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 of counting preference votes.
If the committee counts preference votes next day or recounts ballot papers, it shall, in the presence of at least 3/5 of the members, check whether the special envelope (envelopes) has not been opened. If the polling district committee adopts 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 package shall be sealed and the votes shall not be counted. The package shall be delivered to the constituency electoral committee. The Central Electoral Committee shall be immediately informed about this. A decision pertaining to the counting of the votes which are in the package shall be adopted by the constituency electoral committee. Upon having ascertained that the envelope has not been tampered with, counting of preference votes shall commence. Information on the time and place of the counting of preference votes as well as in the event when the constituency electoral committee decides to recount ballot papers, must, not later than one hour before the commencement of the co

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