1)the chairman of the polling district committee shall present unopened all return envelopes received by post and at homes. Their number shall be announced and entered in the vote counting record;
\n
2)return envelopes shall be opened one at a time;
\n
3)a voter certificate shall be taken out of the return envelope, the voter’s surname shall be read aloud, it shall be checked against the voter list of the polling district, and the ballot paper envelope shall be stamped with the seal of the polling district. If the person on the voter certificate is not on the electoral roll of the polling district, if the voter has already signed such electoral roll indicating that he has already voted in the polling district, if another postal voting envelope has been received from the same voter, if there is no voter certificate in the return envelope, or if there is more than one ballot paper envelope in the return envelope, the seal shall not be affixed and the ballot paper (ballot papers) in the envelope shall be considered invalid, the envelope shall not be opened. A ballot paper envelope (envelopes) must be marked with a note that the ballot papers placed in them are invalid. The content of such envelopes shall not be reckoned in the vote counting record of the polling district;
\n
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 or at home;
\n
5)the stamped ballot paper envelope shall be cast into the ballot box prepared and sealed according to the established requirements; and
\n
6)when all envelopes received by post and at home have been inspected, the ballot box shall be opened and the sealed ballot paper envelopes shall be opened. If there is more than one ballot paper in the 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 72.
\n
2.If only one sealed ballot paper envelope 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. This committee shall enter the results of the voting in its vote counting record.
\n
Article 69Vote Counting Records of the Polling District
\n
1.A vote calculation record shall be drawn up in every polling district. It shall include:
\n
1)the number of voters in the polling district;
\n
2)the number of ballot papers received from the municipal electoral committee;
\n
3)the number of ballot-papers delivered to each member of the committee, the number of ballot-papers delivered to voters, the number of voters' signatures, the number of voter certificates, and the number of spoiled ballot-papers;
\n
4)the number of unused ballot-papers;
\n
5)the number of voters who have voted in the polling station of the polling district;
\n
6)the time that the ballot-box is opened;
\n
7)the number of invalid ballot-papers found in the ballot box;
\n
8)the number of valid ballot-papers found in the ballot box;
\n
9)the number of votes found in the ballot-box, which have been separately cast for each candidate to the office of President of the Republic;
\n
10)the number of postal voting envelopes of voters who have voted at home, the number of postal voting envelopes received by post, the total number of voting envelopes received by post and at home, and the number of sealed ballot paper envelopes;
\n
11)the number of invalid ballot-papers received by mail;
\n
12)the number of valid ballot-papers received by mail;
\n
13)the number of votes received by mail for each candidate to the office of President of the Republic;
\n
14)the total number of voters who participated in the elections in the polling district;
\n
15)the total number of invalid votes in the polling district;
\n
16)the total number of votes cast for each candidate to the office of President of the Republic.
\n
2.If more ballot-papers are found in the ballot-box than it has been delivered to voters, this shall be entered in the vote calculation record, indicating the number of extra ballot-papers which were found.
\n
3.The chairperson and members of the electoral committee of the polling district shall sign the vote calculation record of the polling district. After that the election observers shall sign the records. Their remarks, the separate opinions of the committee members shall be appended to the records and shall be an integral part thereof.
\n
Article 70Invalid Ballot Papers
\n
1.Invalid ballot-papers shall be:
\n
1)ballot-papers, which are not of the established sample;
\n
2)ballot-papers, which are sealed with the seal of the wrong polling district;
\n
3)ballot-papers in which voters marked more than one candidate to the office of President of the Republic.
\n
4)ballot-papers on which voters have not marked any of the candidates to the office of President of the Republic.
\n
2.The decision to declare a ballot invalid shall be made by the electoral committee of the polling district.
\n
Article 71Presentation of Vote Counting Documents of the Polling District to the Municipal Electoral Committee
\n
1.The electoral committee of a polling district shall put all ballot-papers, including invalid and unused ballot-papers, all voting envelopes, vote calculation records, electoral rolls and other election documents into packages, make their inscriptions and seal it in accordance with the procedure established by the Central Electoral Commission. Packages shall be delivered to the municipal electoral committee within 12 hours of the closing of voting.
\n
2.The Central Electoral Commission and the Ministry of the Interior must ensure the safety of transportation of the election documents and the persons transporting them.
\n
Article 72Vote Counting of a Polling District in the Municipal Electoral Committee
\n
1.TA municipal electoral committee shall begin calculating votes upon receiving all vote calculation records and other election documents from all polling districts.
\n
2.The municipal electoral committee shall accept the election documents delivered by the polling district electoral committee and shall check:
\n
1)whether all documents (packages) which had to be submitted have been delivered;
\n
2)sealing and descriptions of the packages (whether the description is full and correct);
\n
3)whether all data have been entered in the vote calculation record; if they do not contradict one another; if they correspond to the data available to the municipal electoral committee (the number of ballot papers issued to the electoral committee of the polling district, the number of voters, the number of return envelopes received by post); if there are all necessary signatures; whether all separate opinions of the committee members, remarks of election observers are attached to the record in which they are specified; and
\n
4)whether all remarks and complaints of voters have been considered in the electoral committee of the polling district.
\n
3.The municipal electoral committee shall immediately report the data of the vote counting record, its comments concerning the documents submitted by the polling district committee to the Central Electoral Commission in the manner prescribed by it, and shall ensure the safety of submitted documents.
\n
4.The packages sealed by the polling district committees, which contain ballot papers and other election documents, may be opened in the municipal electoral committee only by decision of the municipal electoral committee.
\n
5.Upon establishing the shortage of documents submitted by the polling district electoral committee, the municipal electoral committee shall take measures to eliminate the shortage, request the chairman of the polling district electoral committee to supply the missing documents.
\n
6.The municipal electoral committee shall count the votes in the following manner: it shall sum up the figures submitted by polling district electoral committees and shall add to them the votes cast by the voters by post, which have been counted in the municipal electoral committee.
\n
Article 73Vote Calculation Records of Municipal Electoral Committees
\n
1.In accordance with vote counting records, ballot papers and other documents of polling districts, the municipal electoral committee shall establish:
\n
1)the number of voters who have participated in the elections held in the municipality, which shall equal the number of voters who have voted in the polling districts of the municipality;
\n
2)the number of invalid ballot-papers in the municipality which shall equal the number of invalid ballot-papers in polling districts;
\n
3)the number of valid ballot-papers in the municipality which shall equal the number of valid ballot-papers in polling districts;
\n
4)the number of votes cast for each candidate to the office of President of the Republic. This number shall equal the sum of votes received in the polling districts separately for each candidate to the office of President of the Republic.
\n
2.The data referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be entered in the vote calculation record of the municipal electoral committee. Vote calculation records of the municipal electoral committee shall be signed by the chairperson and members of the electoral committee of that municipality.
\n
Article 74
\n
Presentation of Vote Calculation Documents of Municipal Electoral Committees to the Central Electoral Commission and Establishment of Results of Presidential Elections 1. The Central Electoral Commission may begin to establish the election results after the vote calculation records of all municipal electoral committees as well as other election documents have been received.
\n
2.All documents (except financial documentation) received from polling districts, voter lists, the vote counting record of the municipal electoral committee, the minutes of the municipal electoral committee for the whole period of its activities and other election documents shall be placed into special packages and sealed by the municipal electoral committee. The packages shall, within the time limit established by the Central Electoral Commission, be delivered to the Central Electoral Commission.
\n
3.In accordance with vote counting records of the municipal electoral committees and according to vote counting records received from the diplomatic missions and consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania, the Central Electoral Commission shall establish:
\n
1)the number of voters of the Republic of Lithuania;
\n
2)the number of voters who have participated in the presidential elections;
\n
3)the number of invalid ballot-papers;
\n
4)the number of valid ballot-papers; and
\n
5)the number of votes cast for each candidate to the office of President of the Republic.
\n
4.While investigating the complaints filed in the procedure established by this Law, the Central Electoral Commission may recount ballot-papers and, upon the establishment of errors in their calculation, may correct entries in vote calculation records. The Central Electoral Commission may not consider invalid vote calculation records of electoral committees of polling districts, municipal electoral committees due to errors detected in vote calculation records.
\n
5.The Central Electoral Commission may declare the presidential election results null and void, if it has established that severe violations of this Law which were committed after the announcement of the date of presidential elections until the end of election campaigning as set in this Law, as well as in the course of voting or falsification of documents had an essential influence on the presidential election results. In this case, a run-off presidential election shall be conducted in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraph 6 of Article 77 of this Law.
\n
6.A candidate to the office of President of the Republic shall be considered elected if during voting for the first time in which at least half of all voters participate, he receives more than half of the votes of all voters participating in the elections. If less than half of all voters participated in the elections, a candidate to the office of President of the Republic shall be considered elected when he receives the most, but no less than one-third of votes of all voters.
\n
7.If during the first voting round in the presidential election none of the candidates to the office of President of the Republic get the required majority vote, within 2 weeks of the day of the proclamation of the election results, on Sunday run-off voting shall be conducted in the procedure established by this Law between the two candidates to the office of President of the Republic who received the most votes in the first voting round. A date of run-off voting shall be announced by the Central Electoral Commission together with the final results of the first voting. The candidate to the office of President of the Republic who gets more votes during the run-off voting shall be considered elected.
\n
8.If during the first voting in the election to the office of President of the Republic not more than two candidates took part and neither of them received the necessary number of votes, a run-off election to the office of President of the Republic shall be held not later than within 3 months from the presidential election day.
\n
Article 75Participation of Observers in the Calculation of Votes and the Establishment of Election Results
\n
1.Observers of political parties which have nominated candidates to the office of President of the Republic, observers appointed by candidates to the office of President of the Republic, and representatives of the mass media may participate in the calculation of votes in electoral committees of polling districts and municipal electoral committees, as well as in the establishment of election results in the Central Electoral Commission.
\n
2.The observers shall have the right to make remarks and claims to the electoral committees concerning the violations of this and other laws of the Republic of Lithuania, but they must not hinder the work of electoral committees. Election observers shall have the right to make written protests, which must be added to the electoral committee records or decisions and, together with other election documents, must be delivered to the electoral committee which set up this electoral committee.
\n
Article 76Proclamation of Election Results
\n
1.The final results of the presidential election shall be proclaimed by the Central Electoral Commission on the seventh day following the polling day.
\n
2.The results of the run-off presidential election shall be proclaimed by the Central Electoral Commission not later than within 7 days from the day of the run-off voting.
\n
Article 77Inquiry Concerning the Violation of the Law on Presidential Elections
\n
1.Not later than within 3 days of the official proclamation of the election results the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania may appeal to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania with the inquiry whether or not this Law has been violated during the elections of President of the Republic.
\n
2.The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania shall investigate and evaluate the decision only of the Central Electoral Commission or its refusal to investigate complaints concerning the violations of this Law in the cases when decisions have been adopted or other actions of the Central Electoral Commission have been performed after the closing of voting during the election of President of the Republic.
\n
3.This inquiry referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be investigated by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania not later than within 72 hours of its submission to the Constitutional Court. This term shall include non-working days as well.
\n
4.Following the findings of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania shall adopt the final decision concerning the violation of the Law on Presidential Elections.
\n
5.If the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania makes a conclusion that the Central Electoral Commission has severely violated the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Presidential Elections or has falsified election documents, and this has had an essential influence on the establishment of the presidential election results, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania may pass one of the following resolutions:
\n
1)to declare the presidential election results invalid - when, from the vote calculation records, it is impossible to establish real election results; or
\n
2)to establish real final presidential election results according to the vote calculation records confirmed by electoral committees, provided that the decisions of the electoral committees concerning confirmation of these records have not been appealed against in the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania, and the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania has not reversed the decisions of the electoral committees concerning confirmation or non-confirmation of these records.
\n
6.Upon declaring the results of the election of President of the Republic invalid, the run-off election of President of the Republic shall, not later than within 3 months of the presidential election day, be held in the manner prescribed by this Law.
\n
Article 78Preservation of Documents of Presidential Elections
\n
The Central Electoral Commission shall, not later than within 3 months of the proclamation of the final presidential election results, prepare and publish a book about the results of the presidential elections, and shall within 4 months transfer vote calculation records of electoral committees of polling districts and municipal electoral committees, nomination documents (except the forms for the collection of voters' signatures), minutes of the sittings as well as the decisions of the Central Electoral Commission and a set of sample presidential election documents to the State Archives for permanent preservation. After that the Central Electoral Commission may, in a prescribed manner, decide to destroy the presidential election documents, which are not subject to preservation.