Early voting in Lithuania’s parliamentary election began on Tuesday morning and will continue for three days.
The Lithuanian Central Elections Commission (CEC) says that early voting polling stations are available in all 60 of the country’s municipalities. They will be open from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM from Tuesday through Thursday.
Even before the pols were open, a dozen voters were queuing up at Lukiskes Square in the centre of Vilnius. That is where one of the capital city’s advance voting sites is located.
Schoolteacher Danguole Stonciene, 64, was the first to cast her vote in Vilnius, telling BNS that she chose the same party which she supported four years ago.
“I voted for the ones who in my opinion are the best and whom I trust,” said the woman. She did not specify which political party she backed, but did declare that “I expect honest, diligent, responsible and stable work, and at the same time, I hope that things will be better than they are today.”
Zenonas Dapkevicius, 70, works at the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, and he reported that he was plumping for one of the country’s “classical parties.”
“I always vote for classical parties and not the radicals,” he told BNS. “I previously voted for another classic party which expects to be number one this year, but I wasn’t entirely happy with its slate of candidates.”
Dapkevicius also said that he was tired of political parties which are forever bickering and taunting each other.
“It seems to me that the infighting has increased and that the parties should not have formed pre-election coalitions,” he added. “Let’s wait and see.”
“I’m voting for freedom and democracy, because Lithuania needs it, declared Inga Vasilaviciute, 38, a private sector employee who cast her vote at one of two early voting stations in Kaunas.
“It wasn’t hard to choose. Ther are not many democratic and freedom-supporting options in Lithuania,” Vasilaviciute added.
Arvydas, 65, and Virginija Stankevicius, 64, are married and voted together. They told BNS that they were supporting incumbents.
“They have handled challenges very well,” declared Virginija, who works for a school. “The government did a lot during an extreme solution, and they are neither populists, nor liars.”
Her husband added: “They support Ukraine and are consistent. You also have to look at who the Russians are attacking the most; those are the best options.”
Election day will be on Sunday, and polling stations across Lithuania will again be open at 7:00 AM and stay open until 8:00 PM.
1,740 politicians are standing for one of 141 seats in Lithuania’s Seimas, or Parliament. 700 or so are running for 71 seats in single-member constituencies, while 14 parties and one alliance are vying for the remaining 70 seats. These will be allocated from the nationwide multi-member constituency on the basis of a proportional representation system.
Source: BNS
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