Lithuania

Law on Elections to the Seimas (1992, last amended 2012)

Updated: June 2015

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Article 2, paragraph 1 states:

Citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who, on the election day, are 18 years of age shall have the right to vote…

 

Excerpt from the Law on Elections to the Seimas (1992, last amended 2012)

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Article 2 states:

(1)…Citizens who have been declared legally incompetent by the court shall not participate in elections…

(3) Persons who, with 65 days remaining before elections, have not yet served their sentence imposed by the court, as well as persons who have been declared legally incompetent and incapable by the court may not stand for election as members of the Seimas….
 

Article 4 states:

There shall be no voting by proxy in the elections of the Seimas members.

 

Article 5, paragraph 1 states:

Voters shall vote in person and by secret ballot. It shall be prohibited for a person to vote instead of another person or to vote by proxy. A voter who because of his physical disability cannot cast a ballot himself, may vote with the assistance of another person whom he trusts...

 

Article 26, paragraph 3 states:

The following persons shall be removed from the electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania: a diseased citizen of the Republic of Lithuania; … a citizen who has been declared legally incompetent by the court.

 

Article 66, paragraph 6 states:

If the voter who, because of his physical disability, is unable to carry out actions specified in this Article, the ballot papers shall, on his request, be marked by a person chosen by the abovementioned voter. Such person must mark the ballot papers in the presence of the voter and according to his instructions, keep the secrecy of voting and cast the ballot papers into the ballot box in the presence of the voter. Members of the electoral committees, election observers and representatives for elections shall be prohibited from carrying out voting-related actions for the disabled voter.

 

Article 67 states:

(1) Postal voting shall be possible for voters who are in institutions of healthcare (with the exception of outpatient healthcare institutions), social care or guardianship because of their health condition or age, or who perform mandatory military service and therefore are unable to come to a polling district to vote…

(8) Actions [when marking and returning the postal voting ballot] be carried out by a voter himself. If because of the physical disability a voter is unable to carry out the said actions himself, at his request such actions shall be carried out by a person he chooses. This person must mark the ballot papers in the presence of the voter according to his instructions and preserve the secrecy of voting.

(9) A postal worker shall be prohibited from carrying out for a voter the actions referred to in paragraphs 6 and 8 of this Article, as well as from accepting from the voter a return envelope which is not sealed. Voters shall be prohibited from taking out postal ballot papers, postal voting envelopes or handing them to other persons.

 

Article 67(1) states:

(1) Only the following persons may vote at home: disabled voters, voters with temporary working incapacity, voters aged 70 and over if because of the health condition they are unable to come to a polling district to vote on an election day and if they have produced a voter’s request, the form of which is set by the Central Electoral Commission, for voting at home. The electoral committees which draw up and revise rolls of voters voting at home shall have the right to receive the data on disabled person from the State Social Insurance Fund Board or its territorial offices, and the data on persons with temporary working incapacity – from healthcare institutions. The electoral committees may not disseminate these data and shall use them only for compilation and revision of rolls of voters voting at home…

(4) Voters’ requests for voting at home shall be submitted to polling district committees. The committees shall begin to accept requests of voters, residing within the territory of a concrete polling district, for voting at home by handing roll cards to such voters and end accepting the requests on the Wednesday preceding an election day. The committees shall end accepting requests of voters, who temporarily stay within the territory of a concrete polling district and have not been entered on the roll of voters of this polling district, for voting at home on the Tuesday preceding an election day. A voter, who because of his physical disability is unable to fill in a request for voting at home or to hand it to a polling district committee, may authorise his family member, neighbour or a person who takes care of him, or an electoral committee member to carry out the said actions for him. These persons shall sign the voter’s request and indicate their name, surname and personal number.

 

Article 71 states:

(1) Voters who because of their health condition or age are in healthcare (except outpatient healthcare) facilities, institutions of social guardianship and care shall be entitled to vote in such institutions…

(5) If because of the disabilities a voter is unable to vote himself, he may entrust another person to vote for him. Such person must mark the ballot papers in the presence of the voter according to his instructions and preserve the secrecy of voting.

(6) Committee members, employees of a special post office and election observers shall be prohibited from carrying out the actions related to voting, as well as from accepting from the voter a return envelope which is not sealed…

 

Article 96 states:

The Central Electoral Commission shall recognise the lapse of the powers of a Seimas member, with the exception of the cases provided for in paragraph 6 of Article 95, not later than within 15 days after the occurrence of a cause for it:… 3) when the court declares a Seimas member legally incompetent - according to the effective decision of the court…

 

Excerpts from the Law on Elections to the Seimas (1992, last amended 2012)

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Article 5, paragraph 1 states:

Voters shall vote in person and by secret ballot. It shall be prohibited for a person to vote instead of another person or to vote by proxy. A voter who because of his physical disability cannot cast a ballot himself, may vote with the assistance of another person whom he trusts...

 

Article 16 states:

The constituency electoral committee shall:… 7) make up a list of healthcare (with the exception of outpatient health care institutions), social care and guardianship institutions, military units, arrest houses, remand prisons (detention facilities) and penal institutions situated in the territory of the constituency, and together with the head of the post office make arrangements to organise voting by post in those institutions as well as organise early voting;…

 

Article 22, paragraph 4 states:

State and municipal institutions and establishments, their officers and staff, enterprises and their employees must provide to electoral committees suitable premises, equipment, computer hardware and internet connection for the preparation and conduct of elections. Suitability of polling stations provided for elections and their installation for needs of voters with mobility and (or) vision impairment and older voters must be evaluated by municipal institutions responsible for adjusting public buildings for special needs.

 

Article 30, paragraph 1 states:

A poll card shall be an information certificate about elections, designated for a voter; a nominal invitation to go to the polls. Electoral committees shall deliver to voters poll cards together with other information about elections or shall organise such delivery. A voter himself, or at his request – any other person, may print or write out his poll card in accordance with the data of the electoral roll of the Republic of Lithuania received electronically pursuant to the procedure established by the Central Electoral Commission (by the internet or the short message service). In this event, the voter himself shall sign his poll card, except for the cases when because of the physical handicaps he himself cannot sign it and it is signed by another person chosen by the voter, indicating his name, surname and personal number. Forms of poll cards which a voter may fill in himself shall be distributed by electoral committees. A poll card shall be obligatory only in the cases when a voter votes not in a polling district not an election day.

 

Article 38, paragraph 3 states:

..Where a citizen who supports the candidate’s self- nomination is unable, due to some physical disability or for some other reasons, to personally write down the required data in the form for signature collection, he may request any other citizen with the right to vote, except for the person collecting the signatures, to do this for him. In such an event a statement of the form prescribed by the Central Electoral Commission shall be drawn up and attached to the form for the collection of signatures. A citizen who supports the person’s self-nomination as candidate and has no physical disabilities which would preclude him from filling in his data must himself write down the data in the form for the collection of signatures…

 

Article 66, paragraph 6 states:

If the voter who, because of his physical disability, is unable to carry out actions specified in this Article, the ballot papers shall, on his request, be marked by a person chosen by the abovementioned voter. Such person must mark the ballot papers in the presence of the voter and according to his instructions, keep the secrecy of voting and cast the ballot papers into the ballot box in the presence of the voter. Members of the electoral committees, election observers and representatives for elections shall be prohibited from carrying out voting-related actions for the disabled voter.

 

Article 67 states:

(1) Postal voting shall be possible for voters who are in institutions of healthcare (with the exception of outpatient healthcare institutions), social care or guardianship because of their health condition or age, or who perform mandatory military service and therefore are unable to come to a polling district to vote…

(8) Actions [when marking and returning the postal voting ballot] be carried out by a voter himself. If because of the physical disability a voter is unable to carry out the said actions himself, at his request such actions shall be carried out by a person he chooses. This person must mark the ballot papers in the presence of the voter according to his instructions and preserve the secrecy of voting.

(9) A postal worker shall be prohibited from carrying out for a voter the actions referred to in paragraphs 6 and 8 of this Article, as well as from accepting from the voter a return envelope which is not sealed. Voters shall be prohibited from taking out postal ballot papers, postal voting envelopes or handing them to other persons.

 

Article 67(1) states:

(1) Only the following persons may vote at home: disabled voters, voters with temporary working incapacity, voters aged 70 and over if because of the health condition they are unable to come to a polling district to vote on an election day and if they have produced a voter’s request, the form of which is set by the Central Electoral Commission, for voting at home. The electoral committees which draw up and revise rolls of voters voting at home shall have the right to receive the data on disabled person from the State Social Insurance Fund Board or its territorial offices, and the data on persons with temporary working incapacity – from healthcare institutions. The electoral committees may not disseminate these data and shall use them only for compilation and revision of rolls of voters voting at home…

(4) Voters’ requests for voting at home shall be submitted to polling district committees. The committees shall begin to accept requests of voters, residing within the territory of a concrete polling district, for voting at home by handing roll cards to such voters and end accepting the requests on the Wednesday preceding an election day. The committees shall end accepting requests of voters, who temporarily stay within the territory of a concrete polling district and have not been entered on the roll of voters of this polling district, for voting at home on the Tuesday preceding an election day. A voter, who because of his physical disability is unable to fill in a request for voting at home or to hand it to a polling district committee, may authorise his family member, neighbour or a person who takes care of him, or an electoral committee member to carry out the said actions for him. These persons shall sign the voter’s request and indicate their name, surname and personal number.

 

Article 71 states:

(1) Voters who because of their health condition or age are in healthcare (except outpatient healthcare) facilities, institutions of social guardianship and care shall be entitled to vote in such institutions…

(5) If because of the disabilities a voter is unable to vote himself, he may entrust another person to vote for him. Such person must mark the ballot papers in the presence of the voter according to his instructions and preserve the secrecy of voting.

(6) Committee members, employees of a special post office and election observers shall be prohibited from carrying out the actions related to voting, as well as from accepting from the voter a return envelope which is not sealed…

 

Excerpts from the Law on Elections to the Seimas (1992, last amended 2012)