Lithuanian president goes to court over vote fraud

Lithuania's political standoff intensified Tuesday after the president vowed to turn to the nation's highest court to assess whether last month's parliamentary election should be invalidated due to allegations of widespread voting fraud.

President Dalia Grybauskaite triggered the crisis last week after she said that the Labor Party should not be part of the next government given that prosecutors and election officials have accused party leaders of buying votes.
The Labor Party, which finished third in the election, on Tuesday signed an agreement to create a center-left coalition with the Social Democrats and the populist Order and Justice. Together they would control a majority of seats in the next legislature, which will likely convene in December.

But Grybauskaite, who has the power to approve the coalition, has said she will not consider any government deal until she receives a final evaluation on the election from the Constitutional Court, according to spokeswoman Daiva Ulbinaite.

The president is expected to submit the petition to the court on Wednesday. The court must respond by Saturday.
Two Labor Party members are accused of vote-buying, while the party's Russian-born party leader, Viktor Uspaskich, is under criminal investigation for his alleged role in fraudulent party financing that dates back several years.

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