"The Central Electoral Commission considers launching a probe over potential abuse of the voter’s right and principles of honest and fair elections when voting abroad. Because we have indications that individuals who have their place of residence declared in Lithuania, who voted in Lithuania in the first round, are registering to vote abroad in the second round in representations and polling stations not far from Lithuania," VRK Chairwoman Lina Petronienė told reporters Thursday.
According to her, if the number of voters registering to vote abroad increases or if information surfaces that this is an organised action, then law enforcement would be addressed to investigate.
So far, there have been 14 additional requests to register people to vote in Sejny and Riga.
Petronienė said that not only colleagues of the two remaining candidates in the World Lithuanians’ constituency are registering to vote abroad, but so are former candidates and their family members. Therefore, it is assumed that they wish to vote deliberately in this constituency instead of in other constituencies in Lithuania under their registered address, where candidates from other parties may be competing.
The World Lithuanians’ constituency was established for Lithuanian citizens residing abroad. Freedom Party’s leader Aušrinė Armonaitė and Dalia Asanavičiūtė of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) have advanced to runoff voting in this constituency after the first round of parliamentary elections on 13 October.
After the first round, the TS-LKD has already secured 18 out of 141 seats in the Seimas and has 33 candidates in the second round.
The Freedom Party’s list of candidates failed to surpass the 5% vote threshold in the multi-member constituency, but three of its candidates have advanced to the second round in single-member constituencies. It had 10 seats in the Seimas in the 2020-2024 term.
Seventy-eight MPs were elected in the first round on 13 October and 63 remain to be elected in runoff voting on 27 October.