People to decide on next ruling majority – Grybauskaitė

First of all, I’d like to tell people that it will be they who will make decisions on what government we have,” Grybauskaite said in an interview with LRT Radio broadcast on Thursday.

“In a democratic state, the government is elected by people and people must go to the polls. The next ruling coalition will be determined by people, not by political analysts and participants of discussions and not even by the president,” she said.

“This is the greatest opportunity in four years for people to say everything about themselves, about others and about their future,” the president added.

Grybauskaite cast her ballot on Wednesday, the first day of early voting in the general elections.

Voters who will not be able to come to their polling stations on the election day, Oct. 9, can cast their ballots at local government buildings across the country between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Thursday, the second and last day of early voting.

Queues of voters formed at early voting sites in the country’s biggest cities on Wednesday.

A total of 2,504,267 people are eligible to vote in the elections, including over 13,000 Lithuanian citizens who have registered to vote abroad.

There are 14 lists on the ballot paper for the multi-mandate constituency, including 12 political parties that are running on their own and two coalitions of two parties each.

A party must pass a 5 percent barrier to get into parliament and a coalition has to receive at least 7 percent of the national vote.