President Grybauskaitė slams Central Electoral Commission

The president and the Board of the Seimas met to discuss the priorities of their work in spring. Grybauskaitė touched upon the organisation of elections, which she said should be transparent.

Grybauskaitė noted the high number of violations in the latest municipal elections. For example, breaches of seals of covering letters of ballot papers in Trakai or re-registration of place of residence a month or two prior to the elections in Alytus, Šalčininkai and Vilnius Districts. The president promised to put forward legal amendments that would prevent such incidents. Grybauskaitė called these violations anti-constitutional. According to her, the fact that the VRK missed or simply ignored the violations showed the lack of quality and effort in its work.

The president claimed that new forms of manipulation during municipal elections prompt to amend the Law on Elections to Municipal Councils so that re-registration of the place of residence would not be taken advantage of.

As reported, the VRK made a decision to annul municipal election results in Trakai District and to hold a rerun election on 7 June. The Lithuanian Liberty Union (Liberals) and the Liberal Movement are suspected of election rigging. Members of the former party led by Vilnius Mayor Artūras Zuokas were allowed to be prosecuted.