The President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite votes at the municipal elections in Sauletekis electoral district in Vilnius.
Photo from the Presidential Press Office

More than 16 thousand candidates took part in the municipal elections which were held on February 27th, 2011. Only about 1.5 thousand of them will be assigned with responsibilities in all 60 municipalities of Lithuania. 2 million 634 thousand 582 Lithuanian citizens had a right to vote in this municipal election, but not all of them performed their civil duties.

State politicians also participated in elections as voters. The president of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite, encouraged Lithuanian people to give their votes in municipal elections. She made her choice at the Sauletekis electoral district on Sunday morning and noticed that it was easy to decide for whom to vote, while former president of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus said that it was a difficult task to choose a candidate or a list of candidates whom he frankly supports. Adamkus also claimed that civil society in Lithuania is still immature but expressed hope that “perhaps we move out from this serious domestic political crisis in which we are now”.

Some election violation cases were registered during the voting day. In Varena district the election observer publicly humiliated a voter in a wheelchair claiming that he should have took a ballot home, while according to the law, disabled people may vote at home if they wish as well as at the ward. Due to this case the local electoral commission drew up a report on administrative offence and withdrew the observer’s certificate. Also there had been some small voter bribery cases registered during the Election Day.

According to the recent data more than 43% of all voters participated in municipal elections, Central Electoral Commission of Lithuania announced. However, this is not a final result. The chairperson of VRK Zenonas Vaigauskas predicts that more than 45% of voters took part in the election on Sunday. This is the highest result of voters’ activeness in recent years.

Sources: BNS, lrytas.lt, veidas.lt, delfi.lt