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A registered voter in the Vilkaviškis district planned to express her will in advance in Vilnius, where she now lives, but had to isolate herself. On Wednesday, he said he had tried to request a vote from home, so he turned to the CEC in 1855. The person who answered the phone did not accept the request, he said.
They told me that it was no longer possible to register to vote in the elections.
“They told me that it is no longer possible to register to vote in elections if I live in Vilnius and I am registered in another electoral district.” 15 minutes said the citizen.
He asked if there would be any exceptions to the vote, but the CEC representative, according to the voter, said she did not write down or write down any of her personal details.
“I understand that the CEC has something to think about at this time, but it had to provide an opportunity for people who are isolated to vote in elections and fulfill their civic duty,” said the resident, adding that she felt ill. not being able to vote.
“In fact, it deprives me of the right to vote,” he said.
Lawyer: There is no time to change anything
Lawyer V. Sinkevičius, who assessed the situation, stated that it was incompatible with the Constitution. The scientist emphasized that the COVID-19 pandemic did not occur yesterday, it had to be taken into account, properly prepared and made possible for everyone to vote in the Seimas elections.
“Elections must be universal, that is, every citizen has the right to vote, his vote is equal to the vote of another citizen and there can be no situation in which a person cannot vote.
If we have an unusual situation now, of course, the CEC, other electoral commissions had to think about how to solve it, but not to allow them to vote and not allow people to express their will, not participate in the formation of the Seimas, the representation of the nation. This is not in line with the Constitution. ” 15 minutes commented V. Sinkevičius.
Photo by Vidmantas Balkūnas / 15min / Vytautas Sinkevičius
And the CEC had to take care of the proper conduct of the elections, he said.
“It is the duty of the CEC to ensure that everyone has the right to express their will. If this is not done correctly, what can we say: maybe the CEC did not notice something in time, did not assess all the circumstances in time.
That situation needs to be corrected as much as possible, but it seems to me that there is not much time to correct it ”, V.Sinkevičius hesitated.
L. Matjošaitytė: We cannot make illegal decisions
L. Matjošaitytė, president of the CEC, also confirmed that she would not correct anything: in order for all people in self-isolation to vote, it was necessary to amend the Seimas Elections Law.
“We have no legal basis for these exceptional conditions for these people to be able to vote. The Seimas Elections Law does not define a situation in which those people can vote or vote to enter a particular mobile polling station designed especially for them, but the law does not foresee the possibility that people find themselves in self-isolation from that special electoral college. ” 15 minutes commented the president of the CEC.
We don’t have much legal basis to create exceptional conditions for people to vote.
Such a special point, according to her, was mentioned during the consideration of the reforms to the Seimas Elections Law, which were approved by parliamentarians on June 30.
“When there were discussions about the amendment of the Electoral Law of the Seimas, if I am not mistaken, it was mentioned in the committee, but the comments were not very well reacted and we have the current regulation as it is,” lamented L. Matjošaitytė.
Photo by Lukas Balandus / 15min / Laura Matjošaitytė
He agreed that all citizens of the country should have the opportunity to vote, but emphasized that the CEC must be guided by the law: “I agree that people should have the opportunity to vote, but we cannot afford to make illegal decisions. , where then, in case of doubt, those decisions can be declared illegal and arbitrary in the courts “.
G.Burokienė: all CEC amendments have been accepted
The Public Administration and Municipalities Committee examined the amendments to the Seimas Elections Law approved in June. Its president, Guoda Burokienė, attributed the responsibility for the poorly organized vote to the CEC. The Seimas, according to her, accepted all the proposals put forward by the commission.
“We have considered and corrected everything that has been presented to the CEC that needs to be corrected. If the CEC did not present the issue, then they are still specialists, they know more, see, they have been consulted. There were a series of meetings in the Ministry of Justice on how to improve this bill taking into account the situation of COVID-19 ”, assured G. Burokienė.
Photo by Sigismund Gedvila / 15min / Guod Burokienė
In June, the Seimas allowed those who care for the disabled to vote from home, and as long as voting takes place in emergency situations, when voting is done early. There is no word on the vote of isolated people in the amendments to the law.
However, this is discussed in detail in the CEC. In the description of the procedure for organizing the Seimas elections.
Voting at home, when people in self-isolation due to COVID-19 or suffering from the virus can also express their will in the Seimas elections, takes place on Friday and Saturday. Voters who voted from home in their constituency where they are registered did so on Thursday.
Voting from home requires early registration.
“The Seimas Elections Act stipulates that people who wish to vote at home and not in their constituency must submit their applications before Tuesday. People who are at home and wish to vote in their constituency must submit applications by Wednesday.
Voting for those voters who vote at home outside their constituency is organized on Thursday, and all other people who want to vote at home and are in their constituency vote on Friday and Saturday, ”L. Matjošaitytė presented the procedure.
Approximately 1.6 thousand people will vote in isolation. people
However, he emphasized that applications to vote from home when voting in his constituency can still be submitted to the CEC until Friday afternoon.
According to the CCA, more than 1.6 thousand people expressed their desire to vote in the Seimas elections. isolated individuals, 365 of whom have coronavirus. There are currently more than 31,000 people in isolation. people.
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